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LOL (an acronym for "laughing out loud"), LMAO, ROTFL and other Internet slang acronyms that express bodily reactions, in particular laughter, are very popular.

Are there equivalent or similar German expressions? If they do exist, are they actually being used?

TIA ;-)

splattne
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2 Answers2

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Here's an (incomplete) list of German language internet acronyms. Only one of them expresses a bodily reaction:

  • BD - Bis dann
  • BG - Breites Grinsen
  • DAU - Dümmster anzunehmender User (cf. Luser)
  • HGW - Herzlichen Glückwunsch
  • IDA / IEA - Ich dich (euch) auch
  • ILD - Ich liebe dich
  • HDL - Hab' dich lieb
  • HDGDL - Hab' dich ganz doll lieb
  • kA - keine Ahnung (anglc.: keine Angabe)
  • kwT - Kein weiterer Text (also kT, oT, owT)
  • LG - Liebe Grüße (also Viele Grüße, Viele liebe Grüße)
  • mMn - Meiner Meinung nach
  • SuFu - Suchfunktion
  • WD - Wieder da
  • WE - Wochenende

(an extract from WP:Liste von Abkürzungen (Netzjargon))

But it's very popular to to set the inflektiv in asterisks to express one of those. This kind of speech is of course, as in English, considered childish and may even be impolite.

  • *grins*, *lach*, *wein*, *aufsteh*, *rausgeh*, *rasenmäh*.
Stefano Palazzo
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    *Schenkel-klopf-und-lachend-auf-dem-Boden-roll* – deceze May 31 '11 at 07:35
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    used among younger people is also hdl = hab dich lieb. – ladybug May 31 '11 at 07:41
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    Never saw VLG, but rather just LG (Liebe Grüße / Lieben Gruß). Though I never understood why anyone would need acronyms ;) – OregonGhost May 31 '11 at 08:16
  • How "bis dann" shows body reaction? –  May 31 '11 at 08:52
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    +1 für den DAU :-) – Jan May 31 '11 at 09:39
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    very comprehensive and good list! I'd add MfG and gg (for 'grinse, grins', male use that too!). Also a lot of the english acronyms are used (everybody nows lol & rofl). – Samuel Herzog Jun 03 '11 at 20:53
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    you could add special german creations like afklo, which is built by afk and klo (slang for toilet), meaning you're leaving to wash your hands. – Samuel Herzog Jun 03 '11 at 22:37
  • @SamuelHerzog: sorry to tell you but gg is too much "good game" to be used as "grins", where you can easily make an emoticon, while mfg of course only makes sense in german. ;) – Vogel612 Feb 08 '13 at 16:22
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    @Vogel612 no need to be sorry, we are talking about german acronyms, gg is english and used in two ways (as far as I know): good game, popular in the online gaming community e.g. wc3, LoL, DotA, SC and so on, but also as "*gg*" (giggle giggle) by girls in regular chatting (online chat rooms, skype, icq, msn). In a solely german game context I have never seen gg, but in german chat context you'll find *gg* as acronym for "grins (grins)" – Samuel Herzog Feb 13 '13 at 17:10
  • @SamuelHerzog i am not a girl, so giggle giggle is not really my line. also i have yet to see a pure-german chat in online communities. even there gg might also mean good game but sarcastically when speaking of games or problems (gg Riot -> f*ck you Riot) note: Riot is the publisher of League of Legends – Vogel612 Feb 14 '13 at 07:57
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    @Vogel612 The question was about German Internet Slang and not about German Internet Slang in Gaming Communities. You have to factor in every possible usage of Slang in Online Communities. Including but not limited to: Gaming Communities, Forums, Online Chat, Facebook, and so on. Additionally there are pure german online gaming communities, an example coming to mind are only-german browsergames. Please always think about the question and not about your personal experience only. In browsergame context good game would also make little sense since a lot of them are not round-based. – Samuel Herzog Feb 25 '13 at 17:13
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    Fallen die in Deinem letzten Absatz beschriebenen Formen nicht unter Inflektiv? In dem Artikel werden auch andere Aspekte der Zwischen-Sternchen-Schreibweise kurz behandelt... – I'm with Monica Jul 02 '13 at 08:16
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    Sind nicht die meisten davon in der SMS-Welt, also außerhalb des Internets entstanden? DAU lasse ich gelten, und kwT, welches ich selbst (bei heise.de) in die Welt gesetzt habe. – user unknown Nov 16 '16 at 17:25
  • hdgdlbaedwuwz also existed. – Jo Mo Mar 17 '23 at 13:57
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In countries where "u" is pronounced "oo" (and not "ew"), one thing which I slipped up on at first was

Ups! (= Oops!)

(Note that this is not an acronym, but still slang.)

This seems painfully obvious when one knows, but beforehand, while reading an IRC transcript for example, one may think that something appeared above (up) in the log which people are referring to.

Seems worthwhile to point out, although YMMV.

Glen Wheeler
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    It's neither an acronym, nor internet-specific. I'm not even convinced it's "slang". Ups is a common German interjection that has probably been used in spoken and written language for decades, comparably to "hoppla", "huch", "aua", etc. – O. R. Mapper Nov 16 '16 at 14:26