Literally "Read The F**king Manual"; a term showing the frustration of being bothered with questions so trivial that the asker could have quickly figured out the answer on their own with minimal effort, usually by reading readily-available documents. People who say "RTFM!" might be considered rude, but the true rude ones are the annoying people who take absolutely no self-responibility and expect to have all the answers handed to them personally.

"Damn, that's the twelveth time that somebody posted this question to the messageboard today! RTFM, already!"

rtfm by Bill M. July 27, 2004

rtfm

Read
The
Fucking
Manual

The First Commandment of Technology.

The Commandments of Technology

1. Thou shalt read the fucking manual.
2. Thou shalt treat technology with care and love.
3. Thou may covet thy neighbor's technology, but thou shalt not steal it.

rtfm by Scott Lanway September 3, 2004

RTFEM

Read the Fucking Error Message!

This is given when the error message shows the obvious cause and provides the proper course for resolution.

Joe: I got an error what am I supposed to do?

*Error(1234): User account does not exist. Please create user account and try again.

Bob: RTFEM

RTFEM by Unspecified01 June 2, 2014

rtfm

Proponents of such acronyms encouraging new users to look the information up themselves are often discouraging questions that could easily be answered using the FAQs, Wiki or Google.

RTFM frequents questions that common sense should have precluded asking.

Some may choose to reply in this fashion rather than leaving the newbie without a response so as to clarify what types of questions are considered inappropriate, unintelligent or inconsiderate of others' time.

originally: "read the field manual" used by WWII soldiers when asked basic questions by new enlistees.

rtfm quickly spread to engineering, computer & technical fields, and has gained popularity with internet usage.

its applicability has increased dramatically with the advent of wiki, where the answer is already at everyone's fingertips.

then:

rookie: how am i supposed to clean this m1?
veteran: read the field manual.

now:

noob: how do i install linux?
1337: rtfm @ linux.org/docs/beginner/install.html

polite usage that will increase likelihood of a helpful response:

newbie: how do i...? i have already rtfm.

rtfm by kajiem January 3, 2010

Galantir

A group of people, typically women, searching through someone’s digital footprint in order to find more information about that person.

Susie wasn’t sure if her new Hinge match was a creep, so she assembled Galantir and they found out he used to post slurs on gaming forums.

Galantir by Ge-sus September 22, 2026

Word of the Day on September 23, 2026

murderhobo

In a tabletop game, a murderhobo is a player who murders NPCs indiscriminately. This is normally derogatory, referring to a player who totally ignores quests, dialog, backstory, trade, world building etc.

The term is most common with Dungeons and Dragons, but it can be applied to most RPGs where the player is allowed to kill most quest-giving NPCs and NPC traders. E.g. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Divinity original sin.

DM: The sad little orphan girl tugs at Steve's trenchcoat to get his attention, and ask for help saving her pet dog from...
Steve: I'd like to roll a strength check against strangling the orphan.
Dave: I call dibs on the dog.
DM: You murderhobos disgust me.

murderhobo by Loup&S September 9, 2021

Word of the Day on September 22, 2026

Whale

In sales terms, a whale is a prospect that is significantly larger than an organization’s average customer.

Whales are large and extremely difficult to close. Due to their immense size, they are highly sought-after.

A whale is typically identified at first by a whale hunter on the sales team, but often requires cross-discipline participation in order to close; this includes assistance from operations, engineering, creative, client success, and business development teams.

"Shit...the sales director chewed me out on the sales call this morning. He's totally pissed that I have nothing in my pipeline. I've been focused on this one whale for so long that I haven't had time to prospect for normal-sized deals."

Whale by FQ_GFY February 3, 2020

Word of the Day on September 21, 2026

Concrete cowboy

A guy who thinks he's a country kinda guy, but in reality lives a comfortable city / suburban life.

Eugene: Look at that dude in the cowboy hat!
Todd: He's just a concrete cowboy.

Concrete cowboy by EugeneJohnson42000 March 16, 2024

Word of the Day on September 20, 2026

hobo loko

any hard liquor that is cheap & potent.. eg. relska, popov, potters, evan williams, kamchatka, fireball, rumpleminze, southern comfort, everclear

hey let's get a drink of that?

go ahead
*takes drink* ugh wtf is that?

everclear & bepsi
fucking hobo loko eeessshh

hobo loko by d i z k o 2 0 8 September 14, 2026

Word of the Day on September 19, 2026