I’d never heard the term “Sweet FA” until reading several of RF’s posts. So I looked it up.  Disturbing . . . Acronyms and jargon fill the pages here at TTAG; I often find myself in research mode. I bet I’m not the only one who gets tripped up on content. Doing my best to channel my inner Samuel Johnson, I’ve offered to build a reference list for the terms used. And I need your help.

BAMF:         Bad-Ass Mother F*cker
ATF:            Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (and Really Big Fires)
DGU:           Defensive Gun Use
IMHO:         In My Humble Opinion – Rarely “humble”
IMO:            IMHO, except don’t question me, I know my shit.
OFWG:        Old Fat White Guy – TTAG original term
REMF:         Rear Echelon Mother F*ker
WTF:           What the F*ck?  (can be uses as “Who the F*ck”)
YMMV         Your mileage may vary (I may be wrong about this)
YJMV           Your Jury May Vary – you might not get away with it
SMFV          Shoot Me First Vest – another TTAG creation
STFU           Please withhold your comments until a later date

IGOTD       Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day (dunno why we leave out the extra “O”)
AI                TTAG’s Armed Intelligensia
RTFM         Read the F**king Manual
TR0LL        Online flamethrower, banned (or soon to be) from TTAG
IWB             Inside the Waistband
OWB           Outside the Waistband
CCL             Concealed Carry License
CHL            Concealed Handgun License
CCP            Concealed Carry Permit
CCW          Concealed Çarry Weapons permit
CCCP         California Concealed Carry Permit…as rare as CCCP (Russian for USSR)
PRK           Peoples Republik of Kalifornia
PITA          Not as easy as one might expect (Pain In The Ass)
COM          Center of Mass (where you aim at the bad guy)
MOA          Minute of angle (I’m sure someone explained this but I haven’t a clue)
MOBG        Minute of Bad Guy (accuracy sufficient to hit the bad guy)
CQB           Close Quarters Battle, Military term for “I can smell the enemy’s breath”
BUG           Backup Gun
MSM          Mainstream media

Post your contributions below and we’ll add the RF-approved terms to the list. If you’re Ralph or Ralph-like, invent a few. I dare you. Hey, if it worked for Heathers it’ll work for us.

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47 COMMENTS

  2. SNAFU: Situation Normal, All F*cked Up
    FUBAR: F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition

  5. IGOTD – Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day (Dunno why we leave out the extra “O”)
    TTAGAI – TTAG Armed Intelligencia
    RTFM – Read the F**king Manual
    PEBKAB – Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair
    TR0LL – Online flamethrower, banned (or soon to be) from TTAG
    IWB – Inside the Waistband
    OWB – Outside the Waistband
    CCL – Concealed Carry License
    CHL – Concealed Handgun License
    CCP – Concealed Carry Permit
    CCCP – California Concealed Carry Permit…as rare today as the original CCCP (Russian for USSR)
    PRK – Peoples Republik of Kalifornia

  6. IIRC – If I Recall Correctly
    IANAL – I am not a lawyer (usually followed by bad legal advice)
    FNG – F*cking New Guy

  8. YJMV – your jury may vary. I think I saw that on TTAG in the context of self defense shootings.

  12. COM – Center of Mass
    MOA – Minute of angle (I’m sure someone explained this but I haven’t a clue)
    MOBG – Minute of Bad Guy, accuracy sufficient to hit the bad guy
    AKA – Also Known As
    DRT – Dead Right There
    CQB – Close Quarters Battle, Military term for “I can smell the enemy’s breath and he’s been eating baba ganoush”
    BUG – Backup Gun
    IRL – In Real Life AKA Meatspace

  13. RTFM – Read the F#king Manual (usually in response to a question is clearly answered in the product manual).
    RTFA – Read the F#king Article (usually in response to someone who posted without reading a referenced article or link).
    IIRC – If I Recall Correctly, …

  14. My favorite by far is IANAL, used by people who are not lawyers who think they understand the legal system better than lawyers.

    If we decompose the term etymologically we see that this is a compound word formed by “I” and “ANAL”, indicating that this term evolved from the proto-phrase “I ass” or in modern diction “I am an ass”.

    -D

  16. There’s SHTF, Shit Hits the Fan. In the everyday world it means your ordinary catastrophic screwup, but among you lovable gun loons it’s shorthand for the Zombie Armageddon or similar. TEOTWAWKI. Martial law, cable service suspended indefinitely.

    Which reminds me of another abbreviation: BOG, bug-out gun. Must be at least .500 S&W. 9×19 will not stop zombies. That’s a scientific fact.

  17. AWB – Assault Weapons Ban (All Weapons Bad)
    BB – Brady Bill or Bullet Button (Been Buttraped)
    BBD – Brady Bill Device (Bullet Button/Long Fixed Flash Hider/ other devices attached to a firearm to make it BB compliant)
    NFA – National Firearms Act (No Fun Anymore)
    FFL – Federal Firearms Liscence
    PPE – Proper Protective Equipment (Earplugs, Safety Glasses, etc.) depending on where you are and who you ask, this may or may not include a badge.
    MAG – Man Against Guns
    OO – Only Online
    ICR – I Couldn’t Resist/I Can’t Remember

    IIRC, much of TTAGs AI lives in the PRK, including myself. TBTC (that being the case), the above acronyms seem useful.

  19. MWAG – man with a gun
    RAS – reasonable articulable suspicion
    BOLO – be on the lookout
    TLDR – too long; didn’t read

  21. GFY — demands that an opinionated commentor perform an anatomically impossible act (use sparingly lest you be banned)
    AYOOYM?YOTMF,YJ — how the cute thirty-something rangemaster will respond when I ask her out (Are You Out Of Your Mind? You’re Older Than My Father, You Jerk).
    IJWO — piss-poor defense for an ND (It Just Went Off)
    I-ANAL — full employment for proctologists

  22. LGS – Local gun store.

    DILLIGAS – Do I look like I give a shit?

    Second acronym should be used with caution. Will get you banned temporarily on certain 1911 forums.

    How do I know this? Well…

  24. Has TTAG been mentioned yet ?

    Someone should think about adding a lexicon to the site, somewhere.

  26. Did I miss something? OK, I admit I just recently found this site, but what is “sweet FA”?

  27. I just received my CCCP (California Concealed Carry Permit) by certified mail today! 🙂 It is actually a License To Carry Concealed Pistol, Revolver, or Other Firearm Within the State of California (LTCCPROFWSC) but that is just too long.

  28. Here in Utah, it’s the CFP (Concealed Firearm Permit), though it permits more than just firearms, and more than one at a time. Also known as the CFL, where License replaces Permit.

  29. The prisoner was brought before the English judge for sentencing :

    Judge : Have you anything to say before sentence is passed?
    Prisoner : (under his breath) Sweet FA.
    Judge : Bailiff, what did he say?
    Bailiff : (whispering in Judges ear) Sweet FA, m’lawd.
    Judge : Strange, I could have sworn he said something!

  31. OODA= Observe, Orient, Decide, Act
    AOR= Area of Responsibility
    Bravo Foxtrot= Buddy F&cker

  34. My platoon Sgt. invented this one in the Corps: CMIF-cover me, I’m f***ed. The hand signal was a flat hand above the other hand giving the bird. Another one refers to the aftermath of a regrettable night of drinking and slumming: CMAO GTH-chewed my arm off, gone to hospital.

  36. I agree that RF should add TEOTWAWKI – The End Of The World As We Know It
    And I can’t believe we missed RKBA – Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

  37. This one is my own – not MSM, but BSM (Brown Stream Media) descriptive of the Bullshit that usually flows from their direction.

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