Is there a secret decoder ring for the various acronyms used here? I'm more of a lurker than a frequent poster and some I have decoded but many here are too arcane for my clueless mind. If it were available and made sticky so that it is readlity accessible, that would help me and others I suspect.

Something like this, perhaps?

http://flyertalk.com/glossary/

It can be found in the Help pull down menu from the top menu bar.

Thanks! I suffer from male pattern blindness and God help me if I ask for directions!

Glad to have found this - very interesting reading (e.g. "pudding guy"). Of course the best solution to the problem is not a glossary, but to eschew the use of these obscure terms. I'm mystified over why people put up barriers against new visitors to FlyerTalk (see, no need for an acronym!).

Because you get bored quickly typing out (e.g.) online check-in all the time when you can type OLCI much more easily and quickly. Some terms and phrases are in such constant use that no-one can be bothered using the full term all the time.

True, but I'm sure some of us do it to show off and try to prove that we're part of the in-crowd!

It has nothing to do with being in the in-crowd. As Jenbel stated it is boring and personally I am lazy. Otherwise everybody would spell all the cities for airport codes. I would rather type ORD than O'hare. Most acronyms I can find by doing a google search. Otherwise I look for a sticky.

Well, I said some of us because I was being inclusive of myself--it's (at least partially) true for me...

Most of the time for me it is purely because of laziness and less energy expenditure, but on some fairly rare occasions, I have actually gone to the acronym finder thingy or airport code finder thingy and looked up an acronym just so I could use it here.

But not very often, I promise...

y, i cn b lzy 2 somtimes. its 2 mch trbl & 2 borng 2 hit all th kys. mch ezyr 2 use shrthnd.

Actually, it has everything to do with being in the in-crowd. I see it all the time in organizations of various sorts. Sometimes code is used correctly as a shorthand form for complex phrases or explanations, but far more often it's used as a sort of secret handshake for members of the club. It's human nature to want to be "in" and "with it" and encourages insiders to create and use their own language. Interestingly enough, people are usually oblivious to this phenomena.

I recognize only a handful of airport codes but I am familiar with thousands of cities in the world. Countless millions of people recognize the names of these cities and refer to them by these very names (sometime the local name, sometimes the anglicized name). For some reason, to participate in FlyerTalk, one must learn a whole new set of names for these cities. Why? Because it's easier? C'mon! It's an entry barrier, albeit an unconscious barrier, but a barrier nevertheless.