The farther, the more people use various obscure abbreviations in speech. Let's deal with one of them. What is "afk", from which phrase this expression came from and where does it apply - read the article.
Borrowings and jargon
In any living language that people speak, new, borrowed words from foreign languages and dialects gradually appear. With slang, everything is somewhat different. Usually these are distorted words of the native language or their abbreviations. But they can also come from foreign speech, and for some specific reason, people will fall in love.
The Internet has played a particularly large role in this. Its widespread distribution has led to the fact that it even formed its own subcultures, legends and, of course, slang. The latter varies depending on the particular community of people. And one of these words, understandable not to everyone, is Afk. So what is afk, how did it happen and by whom is it used? This we will understand.
Definition
This word comes from the English phrase AFK - Away From Keyboard, which literally means "moved away from the keyboard." But, why should someone give such information, and even reduce it to obscure abbreviations? The thing is in brevity, to say or write “afk” is much simpler and faster, and everyone immediately understands that the person is not at the computer at the moment. So now we know what afk is.
the Internet
It all started with the first programs for communication on the Web. Many adults remember those times - the lack of social networks now widespread and other things led to the fact that instant messengers for instant text messaging and other chats were insanely popular. In addition to communication between two people, there were also common channels where many users corresponded, united by common hobbies or something else. And since there were no indicators of presence in those programs, or they didn’t work correctly, it came into fashion to write “afk”, telling all the interlocutors that you are away from the computer and can only answer later. So now we know what afk is.
But nowadays, text messaging programs are not as popular as before. They were replaced by social networks, but they could not completely displace them. True, it is the old versions and varieties that few people use, only their ardent supporters. But if so, why is this word alive and still used? It's all about online games.
Online Games
Similar games differ from ordinary computer games in that they can be played with your comrades or random people. Of course, the entire virtual world is not exclusively inhabited by "living" people, there are non-player characters (NPCs). Of course, most of them can be played quite comfortably alone, but at certain stages you still have to cooperate with other players and fight together. However, it is for this that they are loved.
When playing together, coherence is very important to everyone, especially in situations where even the slightest mistake can lead to the death of the group or the failure of the task, and therefore, in order to warn your comrades about their absence, it is customary to write “afk” in text or voice chat. So now we know what afk means.
Conclusion
Of course, one can quite rightly object - why do we need incomprehensible abbreviations when you can use your native language? But it is already accepted that in any community, subculture, and even online game, slang gradually arises. Of course, no one forces them to use it, but most of the words have remained from the time when online games or programs did not have a Russian translation. Yes, and as already mentioned, to write or say “afk” is much faster and more convenient, and everything is clear to everyone at once. So we figured out what afk means.