Acronims

Top 10 Acronyms That Will Make Your Life Easier

Bonus acronym: FWB!

This one may not make your life easier ... but maybe a little bit more fun? Most of us just have friends. But some daring (or delusional) folks have an FWB—a friend "with benefits." A friend with benefits is a friend someone occasionally has casual sex with.

The term friends with benefits emerged in the 1990s, popularized by the 1995 Alanis Morrissette song “Head over Feet,” which, while ostensibly about a committed relationship, features the lyrics: “You're my best friend / Best friend with benefits.”

The acronym FWB was first entered on Urban Dictionary in 2003, only a few months after the first entry for friends with benefits appeared on the site. FWB first appeared on Twitter in April 2007, just a year after the social-media platform went live.

FWB can be used to describe a person or a relationship. You can say “He is my fwb,” “She and I were fwb a while back,” or “I heard they just have a fwb thing going on.” The plural of FWB can either be FWB (friends with benefits), or, treating the acronym like its own word, FWBs. While the abbreviated FWB is common in digital communication, friends with benefits is used in casual speech.

 
 
 

To a noob (that's internet-speak for a newbie), social media can look like alphabet soup. While you've probably picked up on the staples like LOL and OMG, there are hundreds of acronyms out there, some of which are way less obvious and way more useful.