<G> - what does it mean?

[NoWits]

<G> or <g> seems prevalent in 90s internet slang. From the context of its usage, it looks like the equivalent of where people would use 'lol' today (or some kinda laughing emoji etc), but I'd be interested to learn more about its history and meaning (such as what the 'G' stands for). A Google search for "<G>" is predictably useless.

 

Plenty of examples in Maximum Doom readmes...

 

DOOM1/1_ON_1.TXT:

> * Where to get this WAD * Duh, looks like you already have it. <g>

 

DOOM1/DMPITS.TXT:

> ONCE YOU DISCOVER THE METHOD TO MY MADNESS YOU'LL ONLY HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE RANDOM VARIABLES AND LOSING YOUR GRIP ON THE MOUSE OR JOYSTICK <G>.

 

DOOM1/MANIAC.TXT:

> Single Player: Yes, but you can't get out, so it's kinda pointless.<G>

> Known Bugs: Some misc texture mis-alignments(Stemming from EXTREME laziness.<G>)

> You may do whatever you want with this file. Although if you're planning on modifying it, it would be nice if you gave proper credit. (I'll be VERY pissed off if I find otherwise.<G>)

 

 

DOOM1/RALPHNEW.TXT:

> Additional Credits: ... Terry C. Ramey and Sebastian Kirke for BETA critiques and other witty and useful suggestions (I didn't use any of 'em <g>)

 

DOOM1/RECANT11.TXT:

> Additional Credits: ... Shawn Green for kind words<g>

> ... the tower in the lava pit gave me nightmares with the texture alignment (all done manually, folks<g>).

 

DOOM2/2DIE.TXT:

> Arachnotron ... (goes with new music <g>)

 

DOOM2/ACHERON2.TXT (and DOOM1/RALPHNEW.TXT, incidentally):

> Known Bugs: Rush Limbaugh <g> (none that I know of)

 

DOOM2/DETHGO32.TXT:

> This file provided by Dr Sleep, who is not affiliated with the author of DETH 2.3, but did beta test the thing, so I think I know what I'm talking about<g>.

 

DOOM2/FULOLED.TXT:

> P.S. I would absolutely love to see a *.lmp of a game played on this level, especially if it is a 3 or 4 player game!  Please! Please! <g>

 

DOOM2/MKFRGTME.TXT (interestingly one of the few (if not only) WAD(s) in Maximum DOOM that has a custom palette):

> New Graphics: Yes (A few wall textures.  A cool new status bar, and a shameless plug <g>)

 

DOOM2/REDDOG2.TXT:

> Misc. Author Info: avid doomer....spends WAY too much time deathmatching <g>

 

DOOM2/VORTPAK.TXT:

> Additional Credits to: Matt Lea for helping design map04 over the phone while waiting to play it. <g>

 

DOOM2/WHATSNEW.TXT:

> Mancubus now fires chicken's inside of those flame balls or whatever you want to call them <g> It works very good actually, and is fun to
watch :-)

> I think you'll especially love the Cyberdemon graphics <g> I'd hate to run into this dude playing DOOM deathmatch at 3 in the morning <g>

[MTrop]

"Grin." The person is grinning when they say it.

 

Not sure about its history, though.

[maxmanium]

4 minutes ago, MTrop said:

"Grin." The person is grinning when they say it.

 

Not sure about its history, though.

 

Was this before emoticons or something? lol

[THT]

Wow it's cool to learn little bits of neo-anthropology like this. Funny how something like Doom can bridge generations like that!

[lupinx-Kassman]

Gangsta

[OniriA]

Seems you ain't a "real" G.

[DNSKILL5]

Ain’t nothin’ but a <g> thang baby. 

[roadworx]

3 hours ago, lupinx-Kassman said:

Gangsta

o<g> loc

[Li'l devil]

G-Fuel

[andrewj]

Yeah in the early internet when HTML and the WWW (world wide web) was a fairly new thing, there were various word-play related to the <XX> tags you see in raw HTML files, <grin> was one common one (this person has abbreviated it to just <g> which I don't think was common).  Another common one was <sarcasm> ... </sarcasm> which later got abbreviated to </s> or even just /s.