Around the year 2000, my then 70-year-old Grandpa printed out this cheat sheet for internet lingo. RIP Gramps, thanks for never typing in all caps!

    by spacegeese

    33 Comments

    1. Gramps understood Netiquette better than 90% of the people today. A literal gentleman and a scholar.

    2. At least he went through the trouble of learning it, unlike most older folk. Good on him.

    3. nkondratyk93 on

      printing it out and actually using it properly. that generation who tried instead of just complaining – respect.

    4. Noodle_McSoup on

      It’s 2026 and I’m taking notes! TIL. That’s today I learned, BTW. Which is short for by the way, LMAO…. *sigh

    5. Shout out to the OG Internet marketing guy that was captured on video confidently explaining how HTTP stood for “hit page”…good stuff.

    6. He’s missing important lingo from the era, like “Webring”, “RealPlayer”, and “Flash.”

    7. I genuinely thought the term “Flame” was pioneered a lot more recently (relatively). Cool stuff.

    8. mindgardening on

      My mom asks me to print out GPS instructions to my house and mail them to her. I refuse. (I don’t want her to visit me and I refuse to coddle grown ass adults who play dumb and then act like a victim….shes “difficult”).

    9. passerbyjonas on

      this is genuinely the most wholesome tech support document ever created. gramps understood that learning is a choice and he chose it

    10. FujiwaraHarimoto on

      SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO SHOUT!! Just not all the time, god could you imagine screaming everything you ever said?

    11. Around 2005, my dad is telling me the url for a website he wants me to look at. “Ok it’s H T T P, colon, backslash, backslash…”

    12. This one sheet proves he’s more literate that most internet users then and now.

    13. honeylacednights on

      And this is adorable! My father even made me do this when I started to use the Internet. He made some sort of a list of rules on a post-it note, and one of his rules was “Do not trust people who type too perfectly.” At that time, I had no idea what he meant, but now whenever I see something too perfect, I automatically become suspicious of everything!

    14. Ah flame. I was there for the flame wars of old. I miss them, nowadays it’s not as fun. It’s just ruin for ruin’s sake. Sad lol.

    15. i love this. it’s such a cute insight into the evolution of digital culture, makes me think of how different generations of users have “learned” to use PCs and the internet.

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