{"id":335104,"date":"2021-09-05T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it\/"},"modified":"2021-09-05T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T11:00:00","slug":"what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#What Does \u201cFWIW\u201d Mean, and How Do You Use It?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26227455593\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26227455593\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it\/#For_What_Its_Worth\" >For What It\u2019s Worth<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it\/#FWIW_Has_Been_Around_for_Ages\" >FWIW Has Been Around for Ages<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it\/#How_Do_You_Use_FWIW\" >How Do You Use FWIW?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#What Does \u201cFWIW\u201d Mean, and How Do You Use It?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-748471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/A-couple-of-friends-talking-with-the-word-FWIW-superimposed-over-them-new.jpeg?width=398&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 400w, https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/A-couple-of-friends-talking-with-the-word-FWIW-superimposed-over-them-new.jpeg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 400w, 1200w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/A-couple-of-friends-talking-with-the-word-FWIW-superimposed-over-them-new.jpeg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"A couple of friends talking with the word FWIW superimposed over them\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/friendly-female-colleagues-having-good-relationships-1246077505?\">fizkes\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While FWIW isn\u2019t the most popular piece of slang on the internet, it routinely finds its way into <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> posts, message boards, and chat rooms. But what does FWIW mean, where\u2019d it come from, and how do you use it?<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"For_What_Its_Worth\"><\/span>For What It\u2019s Worth<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>FWIW means \u201cfor what it\u2019s worth.\u201d It\u2019s an idiom that rarely carries any literal meaning, and it\u2019s used to politely express that someone should consider an opinion, idea, or fact (usually because their opinion is flawed).<\/p>\n<p>If it helps, imagine that FWIW means, \u201cYou can ignore what I\u2019m going to say, but I think you should hear it anyway.\u201d The phrase doesn\u2019t really change the overall meaning of your sentence, it just adds a polite tone to what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of telling a friend, \u201cYou have no idea what you\u2019re talking about, 4K TVs have four times the pixel resolution of HD TVs,\u201d you could just say, \u201cFWIW, 4K TVs have four times the pixel resolution of HD TVs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, FWIW can also be used to inject a snarky, empathetic, or even dismissive tone in your sentence. These tones mostly come from context, but as a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> rule, any use of \u201cFWIW\u201d that can be replaced with \u201cFYI\u201d has a snarky tone. (\u201cFWIW, toothpaste kills bad breath germs.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that FWIW is usually (but not always) used at the beginning of a sentence. This is called a prepositional phrase, and it\u2019s used to tell readers you\u2019re about to politely contradict (or confirm) somebody else\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FWIW_Has_Been_Around_for_Ages\"><\/span>FWIW Has Been Around for Ages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As an idiom, \u201cfor what it\u2019s worth\u201d has been around <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?tbo=p&amp;tbm=bks&amp;q=&quot;for+what+it%27s+worth&quot;&amp;tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Dec+23_2+1499,cd_max:Jan+31_2+1900&amp;num=10\">since at least the 1800s<\/a>. The phrase actually has its origins in economics, and it was initially used to express the literal value of products, goods, or people.\u00a0A 1600s farmer might pledge he\u2019ll only buy a horse \u201cfor what it\u2019s worth,\u201d while a tax collector might try to \u201crob you for all you\u2019re worth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There was a time when this economic meaning overl<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed with our modern meaning. You can see this overlap in stories like\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=A9JZAAAAcAAJ&amp;pg=PA324&amp;dq=&quot;for+what+it%27s+worth&quot;&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj9_6ykiMnkAhVN1VkKHckLAbEQuwUwBHoECAMQBA#v=onepage&amp;q=&quot;for%20what%20it's%20worth&quot;&amp;f=false\">The Merchant Service<\/a>\u00a0(1844), where one character tells another, \u201cYour opinion goes for what it\u2019s worth\u2014nothing.\u201d (The characters in this play are merchants, and the author is using \u201cfor what it\u2019s worth\u201d as a pun.)<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-440159 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2-4.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/explore?date=all&amp;geo=US&amp;q=fwiw\" data-credittext=\"Google Trends\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to Google Trends, interest in FWIW has steadily increased since 2004. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/explore?date=all&amp;geo=US&amp;q=fwiw\">Google Trends<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But this \u201ceconomic\u201d subtext has mostly faded away. Now, \u201cfor what it\u2019s worth\u201d is just an empty idiom. It doesn\u2019t actually add much meaning to a sentence, it just makes you sound polite when you\u2019re correcting someone. Knowing this, it\u2019s no surprise the phrase has shortened into FWIW. Nobody wants to type out \u201cfor what it\u2019s worth\u201d just to be polite.<\/p>\n<p>This shortening probably happened during the very early days of the internet. There\u2019s evidence that FWIW was popular on Usenet in the late 80s, or at least popular enough to end up on an \u201cexhaustive\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.textfiles.com\/humor\/COMPUTER\/emoticon.txt\">internet slag and emoticon list<\/a> from July of 1989.\u00a0Use of the word has slowly risen since at least 2004, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/explore?date=all&amp;geo=US&amp;q=fwiw\">according to Google Trends<\/a>, although it\u2019s never seen the popularity of initialisms like \u201cNSFW\u201d or \u201cTFW.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Do_You_Use_FWIW\"><\/span>How Do You Use FWIW?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Again, FWIW is usually used at the beginning of a sentence. This indicates to readers you\u2019re about to politely disagree (or agree) with somebody else\u2019s opinion by offering up your own opinion or a fact.<\/p>\n<p>When your friend says he hates Steven Spielberg\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a>, you might say \u201cFWIW, I loved ET,\u201d or \u201cFWIW, his movies are really popular.\u201d You\u2019re not really confronting your friend or saying he\u2019s wrong, but you\u2019re still putting your opinion in the air. He may even agree with you just because you were so polite.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-440160 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/3-7.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"A man wonders when he should say FWIW.\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/head-shot-serious-puzzled-african-american-1414318691?\" data-credittext=\"fizkes\/Shutterstock.com\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/head-shot-serious-puzzled-african-american-1414318691?\">fizkes\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Of course, FWIW feels kind of stiff at the beginning of a sentence. If you want to loosen things up a bit, you could say \u201cI haven\u2019t seen many of his movies, but FWIW, I loved ET.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And as we mentioned earlier, FWIW can carry a snarky, empathetic, or dismissive tone. This is usually based on the context, which you\u2019ll have to feel out for yourself. But if you want a shortcut, just use FWIW in the same place where you might use \u201cFYI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, you could tell your Spielberg-hating friend that \u201cFWIW, you only like artsy-fartsy French movies, so your opinion doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d That should shut him up.<\/p>\n<p>(As a side-note, FWIW is great for acknowledging a message without really engaging in conversation. Most of the FWIW examples listed here are incredibly lifeless, but they aren\u2019t rude.)<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to traverse the internet without understanding a little bit of slang. FWIW, words like NSFW and YEET probably won\u2019t improve your life too much, but they\u2019ll help you <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> around the web without getting too confused.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/440143\/what-does-fwiw-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#What Does \u201cFWIW\u201d Mean, and How Do You Use It?&#8221; fizkes\/Shutterstock.com While FWIW isn\u2019t the most popular piece of slang on the internet, it routinely finds its way into Twitter posts, message boards, and chat rooms. But what does FWIW mean, where\u2019d it come from, and how do you use it? For What It\u2019s Worth&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":335105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/A-couple-of-friends-talking-with-the-word-FWIW-superimposed-over-them-new.jpeg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}