Introducing the DKtionary!
The community pages and comments of Daily Kos are full of in-jokes and jargon that can be confusing for people who are new to the internet and/or new to political commentary.
Is there a term or an abbreviation you see all the time but you don’t know what it means and don’t know whom to ask? You may find the answer here.
The DKtionary is an (always) incomplete lexicon/glossary of commonly-used blogging abbreviations, shorthand terms and traditions, as well as some standard internet abbreviations for people who are completely new to the world of blogging.
We’ve also included phrases and abbreviations specific to Daily Kos itself.
This DKtionary is NSFW (“not safe for work”) because commonly-used profanity and other offensive words are spelled out here in their entirety to avoid confusion, even if they would normally be flagged if posted on the blog or appearing in an article title.
The DKtionary is a work in progress. This draft is being posted today so that people can make comments and recommendations. Post questions in the comments about unfamiliar terms you have seen. We will tell you what it means and may even add it to the DKtionary in the next revision.
Fair warning: This post is L……...O……...N……...G. I was one of those children who used to sit and read the dictionary or the encyclopedia for long stretches of time but I am aware that is unusual behavior. So if you want to just jump around, or search only for your favorite expressions, be my guest. It’s meant to be a reference page for people at DK (and others on the net).
With each new major site upgrade some new traditions arrive and some old ones inevitably fall by the wayside, so some now-archaic words, phrases, and abbreviations are left out. However, you may run across old articles from previous election cycles containing these terms, so if you think some favorite term from the past should be put back in, please explain in the comments.
If you belong to a subcommunity at DK and newbies are always asking you what the group name means, please post a comment below including a link to the list of diaries published by that group and you will be added to a future draft of the DKtionary.
I am particularly interested in more terms from the current election cycle. There isn’t room for all the insult names for Trump, but if there are any new terms you see frequently, or old terms you think may stand the test of time, please post them in the comments as well.
Last and most important: many, MANY thanks for all the input on this first draft from: FaithGardner, peregrine kate, Neeta Lind, smileycreek, Jessica Sutherland, Christopher Reeves, siab, Jay Cuasay, and countless others who have used these abbreviations, internet idioms, and other insider language terms at DK over the years!
Now the floor is yours: Look for an abbreviation or nickname you use often, or a political term you have seen that you don’t understand. Is it missing? Post a comment asking for it to be added. Disagree with the way something is defined? Post that in the comments for the next revision. Is there another list of abbreviations somewhere that is better or more extensive than this one? Post a link and it will be referenced in the next revision. This is a community document we are all creating together!
The fun begins below the fold—see you there!
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