# Brb BRB is internet shorthand for 'be right back,' typed into chat rooms and group threads to flag a short pause in the conversation. The three-letter initialism goes back to at least a January 1989 chat log from an Apple II Development Forum and moved through Usenet, IRC, MUDs, and AOL Instant Messenger across the 1990s and 2000s. ## Overview BRB is a three-letter internet abbreviation for the phrase 'be right back,' typed into chat rooms and group threads to note that someone is stepping away for a moment. It sits alongside AFK, IMHO, BTW, FYI, FWIW, OTOH, and WYSIWYG in the small vocabulary of chat shorthand that Usenet posters were already listing off for newcomers in the early 1990s[1]. The word almost always signals a short break rather than a full exit. Someone who types brb in a group DM is telling the room to hold the thread, not to close it. Urban Dictionary users have logged dozens of definitions since 2003, most of them agreeing on the 'leaves briefly, returns shortly' reading, with plenty of jokes about the friend who types brb and never actually comes back[6]. ## How It Spread BRB was already in circulation on Usenet by January 13, 1994, when a poster named Tony Y.T. Chan asked the alt.usage.english newsgroup what 'FYI' stood for. Ron O'Dell answered with a short list of seven internet abbreviations he had picked up online, including BRB, BTW, IMHO, FWIW, OTOH, and WYSIWYG[1]. The exchange is one of the earliest surviving Usenet threads to spell out the small chat vocabulary that gamers and IRC users were already taking for granted. Reference material for the abbreviation piled up through the late 1990s. In June 1997 the term appeared in the FAQ for Valhalla, a DikuMud derivative that had been running since roughly 1993 and hosted quests, spells, and player-run characters[3]. On January 18, 1998, the Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing added an entry defining BRB as '(I will) be right back,' sitting between 'Brazil' and 'breadcrumbs' in the site's alphabetical index[4]. The 2000s pushed BRB into the wider web. Urban Dictionary logged its first entry for the term on April 11, 2003, and eventually collected close to seventy variants and jokes about the initialism[6]. In May 2006, MapleStory forum users ran a small poll comparing AFK and BRB, with 70% picking BRB as their preferred away marker in-game[5]. The abbreviation also crossed over into image macros around that period, riding along on LOLcats captions and later showing up in LOL Jesus edits. ## How to Use BRB works as a quick heads-up in any real-time chat: type it, step away, then come back and rejoin the conversation. Common practice is to add a short reason after the letters, like 'brb dog' or 'brb food,' so the rest of the group has a rough sense of how long to wait[6]. Some people type 'b' or 'back' when they return, though a returning message is optional. The abbreviation reads the same in lowercase or uppercase, and dropping it into a slow-moving thread like email or a work channel is usually read as a joke rather than a real away signal. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Brb? BRB is internet shorthand for 'be right back,' a three-letter abbreviation typed into chats to say you are stepping away for a moment[1]. ### Where did Brb come from? The earliest known use is a January 3, 1989 chat log from an Apple II Development Forum, with the term spreading through Usenet, IRC, MUDs, and AIM in the 1990s[5]. ### What does Brb mean? It stands for 'be right back,' as defined by the Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing in January 1998[4]. ### How do you use Brb? Type it in a chat before stepping away, often with a short reason like 'brb food' or 'brb dog,' so the group knows roughly how long to wait[6]. ### Is Brb still popular? BRB stayed in wide use across Usenet, IRC, AIM, and MUDs through the 1990s and 2000s, and was still common enough in 2013 to inspire a dedicated iOS app called BRB[2]. ### Who first used BRB online? The earliest logged chat use points to two users on an Apple II Development Forum on January 3, 1989[5]. ### When did BRB show up in dictionaries? The Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing added an entry for BRB on January 18, 1998, defining it as '(I will) be right back'[4]. ### What other abbreviations spread with BRB? Ron O'Dell's 1994 alt.usage.english post listed BRB alongside BTW, IMHO, FYI, FWIW, OTOH, and WYSIWYG[1]. ### What is the BRB app? A 2013 iOS app by David Krevitt and Noah Levy that broadcast a custom away message with a timer across Twitter, Facebook, and SMS[2]. ### Was BRB more popular than AFK? In a 2006 MapleStory forum poll, 70% of voters picked BRB over AFK as their preferred away marker in-game[5]. ### When was BRB first defined on Urban Dictionary? Urban Dictionary posted its first BRB entry on April 11, 2003, and later collected dozens more definitions and jokes[6]. ### Did BRB appear in a MUD? Yes, the Valhalla DikuMud FAQ referenced the term in June 1997[3]. ## References 1. [https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.usage.english/g5CwEmFYmPc/H2-FWYSS8dYJ]() 2. [https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/02/brb-a-new-app-wants-you-to-put-down-that-phone-without-fomo.html]() 3. [https://www.valhalla.com/moreinf/FAQ.html#jarg]() 4. [https://foldoc.org/brb]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/brb]() 6. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Brb]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/brb Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library