ACRONYMS (and things that look like them)

              ACRONYMS (and things that look like them)

(Note: the purpose of this list is to provide folks with a place where
they can find out what all of those strange acronyms they see in  here
mean without having to write a lot of "What is that?" messages  (good-
ness knows we've enough traffic in here already.)  Please don't deluge
me with obscure acronyms unless they're actively in use in here...)

AFAIK: As Far As I Know
APA: Amateur Press Association.  Sort of like this bulletin board
     only each member prints up his/her own comments and passes
     them to the Official Collator (or Official Editor) to fasten
     together and distribute copies to members.  Most appear
     monthly or quarterly, but there is at least one yearly one
     (WOOF - the Worldcon apa) and a weekly (gisp) one, APA-L,
     collated and distributed at LASFS meetings.
AWGTHTGTTA?: Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again?
     Alternative form is AWGTHTGTATA (...Through ALL This
     Again?).
BNF: Big Name Fan
BOOF: A typo for "book" which appears to have caught on.  It
     means "book".
BTW: By The Way
DUFF and TAFF: Respectively the Down Under Fan Fund and the Trans
     Atlantic Fan Fund (funds to import fen from same for World-
     cons.)  A Mid Atlantic Fan Fund for well known fuggheads is
     occasionally suggested...
DUOE: Dried-Up Old Eunuch. To quote Jo Peshek "An organization of
     folks who have thoughts about things other than sex. We do
     occasionally think about sex, but it isn't an exclusive
     subject in our lives. In other words, we have brains as well
     as hormones."
FBT: Frigging Blue Turtleoid.  Refers to the gigantic blue six
     legged turtle like critter with several people tied to its
     back which appears on the cover of John DeChancie's novel,
     CASTLE KIDNAPPED.  It does not appear anywhere INSIDE the
     book.  (Upon his visit to the LA, John was presented with a
     Super Sculpy model of an FBT by yours truly which may ex-
     plain why he has gone home again, heh, heh...)
FIAWOL: Fandom Is A Way Of Life
FIJAGH: Fandom Is Just A Ghoddam Hobby (or possibly "Ghu-dam
     hobby" if you're into invoking fannish ghods [personally I
     like The Great Spider or The Church of Herbangelism -
     "Praise Herbie and Pass the Buck"], note also the fannish
     insertion of silent "h"s into things, such as "bheer".)
FIJASOI:  Fandom is Just Another Source of Income
FITB = Fill In The Blank....
FYI: For Your Information
GAFIATE:  Get Away From It All (as in drop out of Fandom)
GIWIST: Gee I Wish I'd Said That
IITYWIMWYBMAD: If I tell you what it means, will you buy me a
     drink?
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion.  Also IMNSHO: In My Not-So Humble
     Opinion and IMOBO: In My Own Biased Opinion.
INPO: In No Particular Order
LASFS: The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, which is the
     oldest continuously meeting science fantasy society in this
     world.  Founded on October 27th, 1934, it settled on weekly
     Thursday meetings by the end of 1939, and has an unbroken
     record ever since, including Thanksgivings.  It can current-
     ly be found at: 11513 Burbank Blvd., N. Hollywood, CA  91601
     telephone (818) 760-9234.
LLTA: Lots and Lots of Thunderous (or Thundering) Applause
LOL: Laughing Out Loud
NASFiC:  North American Science Fiction Convention (aka North
     AmeriCon)
OOK!: This is not an acronym - it's the abbreviated form of Ook
     ook slobber drool!"  This started out as "Ook ook!" which Ed
     Buchman introduced to the LASFS claiming a strange lady told
     him it meant "your pleasure centers had been diddled."  He
     soon modified it to the longer form. Lee Gold, who was LASFS
     secretary at the time says that once at a LASFS auction when
     Pelz was auctioning off a thingie looking like a toilet bowl
     and lid, Ed exclaimed "Ook Ook Slobber Drool!", Bruce asked
     Lee for a definition, and Lee defined it as a bid amount.
     So an "Ook" is worth $.50, a "Slobber" is $.75 and a "Drool"
     is $1, and OOSD = $2.75.
OOTC: Obligatory On Topic Comment
POV: Point Of View
ROFLASTC! (or ROFLASC!): Rolling On The Floor Laughing And Scar-
     ing The Cat.  Originated, I'm told by Pamela Dean, who types
     with a cat on her lap.
RSN: Real Soon Now
RTFM: Read The Fershlugginer Manual
SFBC: Science Fiction Book Club
SFWA:  Science Fiction Writers of America
SMOF:  Secret Masters of Fandom
SPAM: SPiced hAM or something like that.  A brand of semiedible
     canned meat referred to in a famous Monty Python's Flying
     Circus sketch.
ST:TOS, ST:TNG: Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The
     Next Generation
TANJ: There Ain't No Justice
TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TINAR: This Is Not A Review
TPTB: The Powers That Be
TTBOMK: To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTFN: Ta Ta For Now.
WAMKSAM:  Why Are My Kids (or Kitties) Staring At Me?
WYLABOCTGWTR, WYLASOMWTC: Would You Like A Bowl Of Cream To Go
     With That Remark?, Would You Like A Saucer Of Milk With That
     Comment?  Created by Steven Brust (& common in Minneapa)
YATI: Yet Another Trek Inconsistency
YMMV: Your mileage may vary.
y'yin quap'je: A Klingon salutation used by Gary Akins, it trans-
     lates approximately as "survive and succeed".