The SL Lingo

Greetings!
Yesterday, Laurel, Jude and I attended our fifth class in Second Life Librarianship. As the lecture was being conducted, it got me thinking about Second Life "lingo", and how some common SL words get tossed around without any meaning attached to them. So, for those of you just starting out in Second Life, allow me to offer some definitions.

Simulator
The primary SL server process. Each simulator process simulates one 256x256 meter region. As the viewer moves through the world it is handled off from one simulator to another. Multiple simulator processes run on each server host, currently 2 to 16. Someone told me this means the same as an "island", although I'm not sure if that's technologically true.

The Grid
A collection of sims. Linden Lab runs several grids for internal and external testing. I hear a lot of people refer to Second Life as "the Grid".

Primitive
These are the building blocks of Second Life. Every object or item is built in "prims", and every "sim" contains a certain amount of allowable grims. So, when you're buying furniture in SL, be sure to check the "prims" to make sure they are not too heavy. Otherwise, you may only be able to fit a lamp in your living room! When I first entered SL, I purchased a yacht. However, it was so prim-heavy, that I couldn't dock it anywhere. It's still sitting in my inventory.

A couple more helpful abbreviations for when you're "chatting" in SL:

RL = Real Life
SL Time = Pacific Standard Time
AFK = Away from Keyboard
ROFL = Rolling on Floor Laughing (I get this a lot, since I often accidentally take off my hair)

I encourage those of you with helpful abbreviations to post them to the comments so that our "Noobs" (new people in SL) can feel comfortable with their lingo.

Cool Blog Post on presenting in SL:
http://www.jeff-barr.com/?p=707

Cheers!
Penny Theas