What-the-"erm"??

View_From_Below: I thought I was at least moderately savvy about IRC or general chat abbreviations. But I'm baffled by "erm," which I've seen two or three times in postings here. Can anybody clue me in--if indeed this is really an abbreviation and is not a typo that has occurred three or so times here by incredible coincidence...? :)

VFB

Sound it out. "Erm." Have you ever made a noise like that, especially when you don't really know what to say and you're trying to find the words to fit?

Err...ummmm... (That's how you have probably heard it. "Erm" is the more 'compact' way to typing it out, just like "lol" is the more 'compact' way to signify laughing in a post.) ...yeah, that dress doesn't make you look fat at all!

sammygirly: Erm yes...I use erm all the time....heh. Just a noise in print.

Ever notice you can say ANYTHING you want, no matter how terrible, and just LOL at the end to cancel it out?

Like:

Wow, you really are a busted, messed up freak huh?
....
....
....
....
LOL.

All better. ;D

7x6andchg: Took me forever to figure out the following:

IIRC, WTF, WRT

I thought I was pretty tech savvy, too... :(

Personally I do like the emoticon for LOL...that face laughing uncontrollably gets me every time. :D

Actually, there's a site if you need to figure out acronyms:

http://www.acronymfinder.com

They also have some common forms of l33t5p33k such as l33t, w00t, pr0n, etc.

And of course: RU/18QT3.14 (Are you over eighteen, cutie-pie?)

AnonyMs: [quote author=sammygirly link=board=99;num=1053654384;start=0#2 date=05/23/03 at 0943]
Ever notice you can say ANYTHING you want, no matter how terrible, and just LOL at the end to cancel it out?

Like:

Wow, you really are a busted, messed up freak huh?
....
....
....
....
LOL.

All better. ;D [/quote]In the South, we have been doing that for years except we've been saying "Bless your heart!"

View_From_Below: [quote author=jonb link=board=99;num=1053654384;start=0#4 date=05/23/03 at 13:55:27]Actually, there's a site if you need to figure out acronyms:

http://www.acronymfinder.com[/quote]

Excellent, Jonb, except that, erm, "erm" as shorthand for "err, ummm" isn't there. The site is literally for acronyms, not shorthand. So in this case I now know 29 incredibly obscure phrases whose acronym is ERM. ;)

Anyway, thanks to Dee and Sammygirly for the clue to "err, umm." And following the idea of Jonb's site reference, I googled "chat abbreviations" and got several more sites that have far more shorthand notations and acronyms that I could ever handle. (none of them lists "erm," however. I wonder, erm, what to make of that...)

VFB

Erm...isn't he that Jewish Cockney guy?

Pecker

sammygirly: Just before I die, on my deathbead, I'm going to look up and say:

"God, Jehovah, Buddha, Zeus, Jupiter...LOL!"

[quote author=sammygirly link=board=99;num=1053654384;start=0#8 date=05/24/03 at 0746]Just before I die, on my deathbead, I'm going to look up and say:

"God, Jehovah, Buddha, Zeus, Jupiter...LOL!"[/quote]
AOL! (That's another way of saying "Me, too!")