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"We're all familiar with internet slang. \u00A0We've all LOLed with the rest of them at the latest online joke or witty tweet. \u00A0If it was really funny, we may even have ROFLMAOed as well. Then, when we disappear mid-chat most of us will send a simple BRB \u00A0to cover our absence, which TBH, is much better than telling the truth about our trip to the toilet.\r\n\r\nBut, these are all anglocentric acronyms and abbreviations, they're based on the English language.\r\n\r\nIn Asia, as in Europe, the internet has much more fragmented than in, say North America. \u00A0English may still be dominant but, in the social networks and chat-rooms, local languages hold sway and all have their own unique abbreviations for commonly used phrases.\r\n\r\nThis short list will enable you to scan the forums and, at least, work out if what's being discussed is funny or not. \u00A0 Often, where western internet slang is based on abbreviations and acronyms based on the first letters of a phrase, Asian slang, because of the pictographic nature of the languages, is based on homonyms, i.e. the sound of a word. This especially so in China where a whole numerical chat language has developed based on the sounds of the numbers used.\r\n\r\nSo, in no particular order, here's The Next Web's guide on how to LOL in Asia.\r\n\r\nJapan:\r\n\r\n\twww - \u00A0In Japanese, the word for laugh is warau so www is literally an abbreviation for laugh laugh laugh.\r\n\torz - This is actually an emoticon. \u00A0The meaning is\u00A0disappointment, failure or despair. The image, formed by the letters is of somebody bowing in despair (the o is the head, the r is the arms and the z is the legs).\r\n\twktk - waku waku teka teka &amp;quot;just can't wait&amp;quot; (for what's happening next).\r\n\tksk - kasoku, literally\u00A0acceleration or hurry up.\r\n\r\nKorea:\r\n\r\n\t^^ - LOL or happy face based on ^_^\r\n\t\u314B\u314B\u314B \u00A0and \u314E\u314E\u314E are usually used to indicate laughter. '\u314B', \u00A0represents a &amp;quot;k&amp;quot; sound, and '\u314E' represents an &amp;quot;h&amp;quot; sound.\r\n\r\nThailand:\r\n\r\n\t555 - LOL, the sound of 5 in Thai is 'ha' so 555 is literally hahaha.\r\n\r\nChina:\r\n\r\n\t\u54C8\u54C8\u54C8 - LOL, like the Thai 555, this Chinese homonym sounds like hahaha. \u00A0However, if you see\u2026\r\n\t555 - it means crying in China, literally wuwuwu.\r\n\t88 - Many Chinese chats end with 88, pronounced Ba Ba or Bye Bye.\r\n\t520  - Wu Er Ling, often used because it sounds like Wo Ai Ni, I Love you. \u00A0But be careful not to mix up the numbers because\u2026\r\n\t250 - Means 'idiot' and could lead to a sudden 88.\r\n\r\nI hope this short list has raised a smile. \u00A0If you have your own favourites from the region that you'd like me to add, get in touch via the comments below. \u00A0Are you in Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia? I'd love to be able to add some internet slang from your countries too.\r\n\r\nTTFN, 88."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/asia/2010/12/07/laughing-out-loud-in-asia-why-is-the-www-so-funny-in-japan/>