Gifts from the web

I almost entitled this post “Learning from the internet,” but I tend to hold the term “learn” in high enough esteem that I’m skeptical of using it to describe the process of acquiring information from the internet.

For example, while I browsed a Slashdot forum today, a member ended a rather idiotic post with the acronym OMGWTFBBQ. Those of you with some savvy will recognize this as the merger of three separate, common acronyms. OMG = Oh My God, WTF = What The Fuck, and BBQ is of course what we do with tasty meat.

For some reason, though, I had a feeling that this compilation was not simply random and I was almost disappointed in my sense of humanity to discover that I was correct. The Urban Dictionary has ten entries for OMGWTFBBQ. This exciting acronym is surprisingly multifaceted and is used to describe or illustrate inane comments or to highlight a victory over an online game opponent. Apparently, there is nothing more demeaning than to follow up the system’s victory message than with a technically meaningless acronym:

*after starcraft win*
Winner : OMG WTF BBQ NO RE
Loser : Wtf?

Devastating.