This glossary is intended to help readers decipher the shorthand terminology used in many of our hot deal postings. Please reply below with any additions or corrections; I'll maintain this first post.
If you don't find a term here, then look it up on urbandictionary.com and post about it. For example, what does QFT mean?
The format will be "Term: Literal meaning. Interpretation."
General Terminology:
B&M or BM: Brick and Mortar. Actual store that you can visit (Best Buy in Nyack, NY), compared to a website (bestbuy.com). Less frequently, this can mean Brag and Moan; a thread designated for bragging about good deals, or complaints about getting burned.
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer. Also known as a white-box item, this item will come in plain, minimal packaging, and may not include all the accessories or warranties that come with the Retail version of the product. These are intended for system resellers, but many do-it-yourself'ers also appreciate the lower pricing of OEM products.
OP: Original Post(er). A way to reference the post which (person who) started the thread.
RTPE: Real Time Price Engine. AnandTech's price comparison web site, maintained by web-dude KristopherKubicki, described more accurately here.
TTT: To The Top. Same as "bump", meaning you posted merely to send the thread back to the top of the forum.
YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. Deal is not guaranteed for everyone - it might rely on a generous or gullible employee at your local store, for example, or a clearance item that may have limited stock.
Deal Features:
AC: After Coupon. The deal requires a coupon code. Generally, if a coupon code isn't publicly available on the store's website, or it doesn't encourage you to share it with friends, then you may not post it in the ATHD forum, although members do often reference coupon-listing sites in their signatures.
AR or MIR: After Rebate or Mail-In-Rebate. Deal involves a mail-in-rebate, so it's only hot if you're willing to wait several weeks for a rebate check to arrive.
DEAD: Dead (deal). The deal is no longer available. Out of courtesy, if you posted a Hot Deal which has since expired, please edit your post's title to indicate that the deal is now dead.
FAR: Free After Rebate. The rebate's value is greater than or equal to the pre-rebate price of the item, so the net cost to you is $0 once the rebate check arrives.
OTD: Out the door. No mail in rebates, no price-matching hassles; you simply pay the hot price and walk out the door with your item. For online deals, you might say "shipped" instead of out the door, meaning that it's still a low price after shipping costs (if any).
OOS or BO: Out of stock or Back-Ordered. The site's out of stock on the item, so the deal is temporarily dead. Courteous posters will edit their Deal's title to indicate this once it occurs. (Not to be confused with "Hey BO, I'm OOM!", which means the foul-smelling tank is on his own for healing.)
PM: Price Match. Some stores will match a competitor's advertised price. Some very hot deals combine Price Matching with a coupon to bring the price down considerably, but these are often YMMV. (PM can also mean Personal Message, which is a private in-forum message from one member to another, but those are used mostly in the FS/FT (For Sale/For Trade) forums.)
Miscellaneous:
BF: Black Friday. The day after thanksgiving when all the sheep go out to shop.
BTW: By The Way. A way to mark an "aside" or an off-topic or tangent comment.
CSR: Customer Service Representative. Sometimes to get a deal you need to speak to a CSR to have your order manually adjusted. These are often YMMV.
ETA: Estimated time of arrival. The date when a product is expected to arrive, either to the store or to the buyer. Used to be cool when the military invented it. Sometimes associated with "PO" or Pre-Order.
FS/FT: For Sale/For Trade (forum). If you're selling a single item, then it's not a hot deal. You should edit out your hot deals post, apologze profusely, and repost it in the For Sale/For Trade forum.
FTW: for teh win. Like saying something rules, or is the best, or helps you to win. "O'Doyle Rules" = "0'D0y13 FTW"
OT or ATOT: Off-Topic or Anandtech Off-Topic (forum). If you post anything that isn't about what you consider to be a hot deal, you'll be reminded that there is an Anandtech Off-Topic forum for those type of posts. Real life example: I hope this post doesn't get flagged as belonging in ATOT
Stores:
Here at ATHD, we're so efficient that we even abbreviate store names:
AT: AnandTech, you idiot.
BB: Best Buy, though not usually.
BBB: Better Business Bureau
B's! Help, B's!: What you would expect a man to say when covered in man-eating bees.
CC: Circuit City
CUSA or CrapUSA or CrapUSSR: Abbreviation for CompUSA, or derogatory mash of the name CompUSA. (FYI: It looks stupid to report a hot deal and insult the hot deal's store's name in the same post)
CV: ChiefValue.com (NewEgg's Sidekick)
DT: DealTime
FW: FatWallet.com. Not exactly a store, but another hot deals site from which people repost deals from time to time.
NE or The Egg: Newegg.com
OD: Office Depot
OM: OfficeMax
PG: PriceGrabber.com
PW: PriceWatch.com
RR: ResellerRatings.com - site that lets you give stores ratings for other potential customers to review (sometimes people like to write RR7.06... or something)
TD: Tiger Direct. They have a reputation (whether deserved or not) of offering unreliable rebates, so as a warning some posters indicate TD in the title when a deal involves Tiger Direct.
THG: TomsHardware.com (Tom's Hardware Guides)
SB or SMB: Small Business or Small/Medium Business.
SOHO: Small Office/Home Office. Some sites, such as Dell.com, have different deals for the SMB and SOHO sections of their site.
WoW: Crack Cocaine. See OOS/BO.
ZZF: ZipZoomFly.com
If you don't find a term here, then look it up on urbandictionary.com and post about it. For example, what does QFT mean?
The format will be "Term: Literal meaning. Interpretation."
General Terminology:
B&M or BM: Brick and Mortar. Actual store that you can visit (Best Buy in Nyack, NY), compared to a website (bestbuy.com). Less frequently, this can mean Brag and Moan; a thread designated for bragging about good deals, or complaints about getting burned.
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer. Also known as a white-box item, this item will come in plain, minimal packaging, and may not include all the accessories or warranties that come with the Retail version of the product. These are intended for system resellers, but many do-it-yourself'ers also appreciate the lower pricing of OEM products.
OP: Original Post(er). A way to reference the post which (person who) started the thread.
RTPE: Real Time Price Engine. AnandTech's price comparison web site, maintained by web-dude KristopherKubicki, described more accurately here.
TTT: To The Top. Same as "bump", meaning you posted merely to send the thread back to the top of the forum.
YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. Deal is not guaranteed for everyone - it might rely on a generous or gullible employee at your local store, for example, or a clearance item that may have limited stock.
Deal Features:
AC: After Coupon. The deal requires a coupon code. Generally, if a coupon code isn't publicly available on the store's website, or it doesn't encourage you to share it with friends, then you may not post it in the ATHD forum, although members do often reference coupon-listing sites in their signatures.
AR or MIR: After Rebate or Mail-In-Rebate. Deal involves a mail-in-rebate, so it's only hot if you're willing to wait several weeks for a rebate check to arrive.
DEAD: Dead (deal). The deal is no longer available. Out of courtesy, if you posted a Hot Deal which has since expired, please edit your post's title to indicate that the deal is now dead.
FAR: Free After Rebate. The rebate's value is greater than or equal to the pre-rebate price of the item, so the net cost to you is $0 once the rebate check arrives.
OTD: Out the door. No mail in rebates, no price-matching hassles; you simply pay the hot price and walk out the door with your item. For online deals, you might say "shipped" instead of out the door, meaning that it's still a low price after shipping costs (if any).
OOS or BO: Out of stock or Back-Ordered. The site's out of stock on the item, so the deal is temporarily dead. Courteous posters will edit their Deal's title to indicate this once it occurs. (Not to be confused with "Hey BO, I'm OOM!", which means the foul-smelling tank is on his own for healing.)
PM: Price Match. Some stores will match a competitor's advertised price. Some very hot deals combine Price Matching with a coupon to bring the price down considerably, but these are often YMMV. (PM can also mean Personal Message, which is a private in-forum message from one member to another, but those are used mostly in the FS/FT (For Sale/For Trade) forums.)
Miscellaneous:
BF: Black Friday. The day after thanksgiving when all the sheep go out to shop.
BTW: By The Way. A way to mark an "aside" or an off-topic or tangent comment.
CSR: Customer Service Representative. Sometimes to get a deal you need to speak to a CSR to have your order manually adjusted. These are often YMMV.
ETA: Estimated time of arrival. The date when a product is expected to arrive, either to the store or to the buyer. Used to be cool when the military invented it. Sometimes associated with "PO" or Pre-Order.
FS/FT: For Sale/For Trade (forum). If you're selling a single item, then it's not a hot deal. You should edit out your hot deals post, apologze profusely, and repost it in the For Sale/For Trade forum.
FTW: for teh win. Like saying something rules, or is the best, or helps you to win. "O'Doyle Rules" = "0'D0y13 FTW"
OT or ATOT: Off-Topic or Anandtech Off-Topic (forum). If you post anything that isn't about what you consider to be a hot deal, you'll be reminded that there is an Anandtech Off-Topic forum for those type of posts. Real life example: I hope this post doesn't get flagged as belonging in ATOT
Stores:
Here at ATHD, we're so efficient that we even abbreviate store names:
AT: AnandTech, you idiot.
BB: Best Buy, though not usually.
BBB: Better Business Bureau
B's! Help, B's!: What you would expect a man to say when covered in man-eating bees.
CC: Circuit City
CUSA or CrapUSA or CrapUSSR: Abbreviation for CompUSA, or derogatory mash of the name CompUSA. (FYI: It looks stupid to report a hot deal and insult the hot deal's store's name in the same post)
CV: ChiefValue.com (NewEgg's Sidekick)
DT: DealTime
FW: FatWallet.com. Not exactly a store, but another hot deals site from which people repost deals from time to time.
NE or The Egg: Newegg.com
OD: Office Depot
OM: OfficeMax
PG: PriceGrabber.com
PW: PriceWatch.com
RR: ResellerRatings.com - site that lets you give stores ratings for other potential customers to review (sometimes people like to write RR7.06... or something)
TD: Tiger Direct. They have a reputation (whether deserved or not) of offering unreliable rebates, so as a warning some posters indicate TD in the title when a deal involves Tiger Direct.
THG: TomsHardware.com (Tom's Hardware Guides)
SB or SMB: Small Business or Small/Medium Business.
SOHO: Small Office/Home Office. Some sites, such as Dell.com, have different deals for the SMB and SOHO sections of their site.
WoW: Crack Cocaine. See OOS/BO.
ZZF: ZipZoomFly.com
Facebook
Twitter