tone indicators/tone tags/text tones - the master list + ultimate guide

Note: This is in fact the ultimate guide, and the masterlist. You are in the right place.

The Credits Go At the Top, of Course

Document compiled/written/edited by me! Thanks to these two carrds (1, 2) and a few of my friends for helping supply some of these and their definitions.

Introduction to Tone Indicators

What are tone indicators?
Tone indicators are a small, abbreviated symbol placed at the end (or, rarely, at the beginning) of a sentence. They are used online to indicate tone, as we do not have things like body language, facial expression, or any other type of interaction (besides [words] and [knowing a person well]) in order to determine what someone means when they say something.

Examples for “I hate you”:

I hate you /srs

/srs means “serious”. This is when you are actually trying to tell someone you hate them. Although, most people use /srs when announcing something of a genuine magnitude, in my experience.

I hate you /j

/j means “joking”. When you’re just kidding around because someone sent you a joke you’re sick of.

I hate you /hj

/hj means “half-joking”. This is a tricky one. Sometimes, people will use /hj in a situation like that when what they actually mean is i do not like the thing you just sent me and I dislike it so much that I will burn your house down with a tank, but they’re obviously not actually going to do that. I recommend not doing this if that’s what you actually mean; there is too much room for misinterpretation.

Alternatively, sometimes it actually means half-joking. Mostly I see it when someone is partially, but not totally, serious about [starting a new project] or [making something] or [adding something to something else] because of this great idea they’ve had. It’s sort of used as an opening for the other person(s) in the conversation, like “hey, look at this great idea I have! Do you want to help me with it/go along with it, or do you want to just sit here and yarn about the prospect because it’s funny and interesting to talk about?”

I hate you /nm

/nm means “not mad”. This is to tell the person they didn’t actually do anything wrong to you. You also probably don’t actually hate them, so you could also use the sequence /j /nm — people combine tone indicators to mean all sorts of things. (That sort of complicated context is better learned through the practice of conversing with tone indicators.) I recommend using a maximum of three at a time so as to not sound condescending :>

In non-joking contexts, it could be used after a sentence meant to tell someone what they did wrong and/or correct them because they said something incorrect. Like “hey, I actually go by she/her /nm” — “I’m not upset or anything that you misgendered me, just keep it in mind for the future.”

Tips on Deducing the Meanings of Unfamiliar Tone Indicators

When you come across an indicator you don’t know, there are some things you should know (as prior knowledge) to help you figure out what they mean. But you may not have that prior knowledge if you’re new to these, so I can give it to you now.

N usually stands for “not”, “no”, negative-connotation items, etc.

J usually stands for “joking” or “joke” or “jokingly”. This is basically always true, as J is the least common letter in the English alphabet.

G usually stands for “genuine” or “genuinely”, and “gen” is almost always short for one of those, too.

Usually, “very” is used instead of “really” or other similar extremities.

That might not be the most useful list ever, but you can also use context clues! I know that the whole point of tone indicators is to fasten the context and tone, but if you want to figure out what a tone indicator means, you have to look at all of the things that the tone could be and use the unknown letters to pick the most probable one. TL;DR: use common sense. /ntto /lh

How can I create a new indicator?

I usually spring them on the spot because of a certain situation that doesn’t have an indicator for it (and if I don’t use it enough, I archive it/declare it obsolete/proceed to make it irrelevant/use it no further). Or I finally invent one for situations I see come up a lot.

Actual Master List

finally
/j = joking
/hj = half-joking
/jbnr = joking, but not really
/ij = inside joke
/bj = bad joke[, sorry]
/mj = mostly joking
/nj = not joking (similar to /srs, but used lightly, with a passive tone/context)
/srs = serious
/nsrs = not serious
/hsrs = half-serious
/pa = [intentionally] passive-aggressive
/npa = not passive-aggressive
/jpa = jokingly passive-aggressive
/ntto or /nto = not trying to offend
/ntta or /nta = not trying to assume
/nabt = not [trying to say that it’s ]a bad thing
/rq = request
/cur = curious
/jc or /jcur = just curious
/gcon = genuinely concerned/genuinely confused, depending on context
/conc = concerned (not used in a joking manner. For that, you’d usually say “I’m concerned /hj” or something along those lines lol)
/conf = confused
/vcon = very confused/concerned
/genc = genuinely concerned
/genq or /gq = genuine question
/grq = genuine request
/gen or /g = genuinely/genuine
/hg = half-genuine
/mg = mostly genuine
/s or /sarc = sarcastically/sarcasm
/srd = sardonic[ally]
/vpos = very positive (this is one of the instances where I suppose more than four letters can be used — that’s not really a rule, but it personally irks me to have more than four letters in a tone indicator — because you can add as many Vs as you want to make the meaning more powerful, as in /vvvpos, meaning “very, very, very positive”. Applies to /vn or /vneg, /vu, etc.)
/pos or /pc = positive connotation (I suppose /pc was invented because Google says that POC means, uh, something else.)
/neg or /nc = negative connotation
/vneg or /vn = very negative (same principle as /vpos; e.g. /vvvvn)
/neu = neutral connotation
/lh = light-hearted (used sheepishly)
/h = hysterical
/e = excited
/a = asking
/naq = not a question (for when you don’t feel like using punctuation /lh)
/ref = reference
/nref = not a reference
/rp = roleplay
/prp = purposeful[ly]/on purpose
/nprp = not purposeful(ly)/not on purpose
/p = platonically/platonic
/r = romantically/romantic
/fl = familial love (can be used for online families, actual family, whatever. It’s not quite platonic love but definitely not romantic or queerplatonic/alterous either.)
/ol = object love (as opposed to familial love; would come after a statement implying affection for or attraction to an object or concept or TV show or something like that. Like “I love Minecraft /ol”.)
/qpt or /qp = queerplatonically/queerplatonic
/sx or /x = sexual intent
/nsx or /ns = non-sexual intent (basically “I’m not trying to be weird here”)
/t = [just] teasing
/nf = not forcing [you] (has the connotation of “if you don’t mind me asking”)
/th = threat
/nth = not a threat
/hth = half threat
/jth = joking threat
/q = quote/quoting [someone]
/c = copypasta (like quoting, but sometimes /q is paraphrasing as well, and copypasta is direct copying and pasting what someone wrote/said)
/ph = paraphrasing
/rt or /rh = rhetorical question
/hrt = half rhetorical
/l or /ly or /lyr = [these words are] lyrics [to a song]
/nm = not mad
/f = fake (not sure what this one’s supposed to mean, never seen it used)
/cb = clickbait (I think it’s used when you don’t want to be yelled at for clickbaiting people but you want to clickbait them anyway and so you just use /cb to let them know that it’s clickbait)
/nbh = [these words are directed at] nobody here (for when you’re vagueposting or venting/ranting. /nbh can also be used as a tone indicator for [a] tone indicator[s], e.g. /neg /vu /nbh.)
/nco = not calling out
/u = upset
/vu or /vvu or (etc.) = very upset/very, very upset (same principle as /vpos)
/vn or /vvn or (etc.) = very negative/very, very negative (ditto)
/nw or /ns = not [intentionally] weird/not [intentionally] suggestive (/nsx, but you don’t want it to seem like it could be taken sexually, or you don’t want the other person to realize/think that it could be taken sexually, or you don’t want to make it weird by adding /nsx because it doesn’t feel right. The way it feels is always important, which is why we have so many tone indicators and don’t just categorize them generally — “one for each situation.”)
/am = [directed] at me/at myself
/ay = [directed] at you
/nay = not [directed] at you
/nsp = not self pity/don’t want sympathy (venting or self-reprimanding, but don’t want others to be all over you and telling you that’s not true because you just need someone to listen)
/hyp = hyperbole
/cpm = compliment
/nav = not a vent
/v = vent
/mv = mini/minor vent
/hml = humorless
/im = imitation/mockery (paraphrasing, half-quote)
/res = resigned (when it’s an issue that came up long ago and you’ve just kind of decided to deal with it and it doesn’t really affect you anymore, or there’s something you have to do and don’t want to do but you’re trying not to care)
/nip = nothing/nobody in particular (when you say something that pertains to nothing in particular, out of the blue — to drive people away from reading too deep into it)
/pr = proud
/gr or /gt = grateful
/aff = affectionate
/m = metaphor, melancholy, melodramatic
/sgs = suggestion
/emb = embarrassed
/ot = off-topic

Invented by Me

/ntto, /ntta, /nth, /q, /nw or /ns, /am, /ay, /nay, /nsp, /qpt, /cpm, /hml, /im, /res, /jcur, /gcf, /nav, /v, /mv, /srd, /prp, /nprp, /h, /pr, /gr, /aff, /nco, /ol, /m maybe? not sure; I think that at least it already meant “metaphor”, /pa, /sgs, /emb, /ph, /hrt