Salty Social Media Vocabulary: The Don’t @ Us Edition

Welcome back to Salty Social Media Vocabulary, a weekly series where we cover everything from popular abbreviations and hashtags, to trends and jargon. There’s no particular theme to this week, so let’s get right to it!

Vlog: Denotes a video blog, in contrast to a blog, which is usually written. 

Ghosting: Refers to the act of cutting-off communication with someone without any explicit reason or warning for doing so. 

DM: Direct messaging, essentially a private message. A related phrase “slide into my DMs” was initially an overtly flirty way to solicit DMs, occasionally towards someone with whom you might have a romantic interest. However the phrase now has much wider usage, and thus no longer necessarily has the same implications.  

Don’t @ me: Generally short for “you are not invited to respond, contest, or argue.” Often follows when a user posts something contentious, critical, or potentially controversial that is directed at a particular person or group. 

MIRL: “Me in real life” is used to indicate the reality of a particular facet of someone’s daily life. It is also occasionally contrasted with “me on _________ vs MIRL,” as a form of semi-deprecating humor to draw contrast between what a someone projects or pretends to be, versus reality. Not to be confused with MIRV. 

That’s a wrap! Do you use any of these abbreviations? What themes do you want to see in the future? Hit up our comments and let us know.