The meaning of the acronym, inb4, cannot be well explained just by its literal definition, which is ‘in before’. The meaning of inb4 can only be understood by how you use the acronym in a sentence and the words you pair with the acronym to make sense out of it.
How can INB4 be used?
You can never use INB4 on its own because it does not make much sense when it is not paired with other supporting words. For most of the trends that have been witnessed on the internet, inb4 is often used when replying to someone part of a discussion. This is one of the main reasons why the term inb4 is only used and seen in threads, group discussion and other discussion forums where people start discussing a topic, which is followed by comments and views by other user’s part of that discussion. If you want to use inb4 in your comment or when submitting your view about a topic under discussion, make sure you use words along with it to make sense out of the expression.
Where Can INB4 be Used? And which are the Famous Boards for such Threads?
As discussed earlier, inb4 is an acronym mostly used in threads as a response to someone else, or to get a response from someone else, followed by a word or an expression to complete what you want to say. Most of the threads are serious discussion boards where people discuss topics like politics, world affairs, and other problems, whether social or global. Some of the most famous forums, to help create a community for the online users, are, Reddit, Youtube, and others like 4Chan, where people not only discuss issues like poverty and economic reforms but also discuss gaming and technology-related topics. The use of inb4 you has been seen as an acronym used mostly by geeks and geniuses who know perfectly about all the geeky stuff. And the acronym, inb4, can only be understood by them. For a layman like me, we would probably need to read a few examples to understand it first. So here we go.
Examples for INB4
Example 1
You are part of a discussion thread which does not allow the use of foul language or rude speech regarding any member of the team, and if someone uses swear words or abuses someone, the admin has the right to remove them from the group. While you were away, two of the group members from different races got involved in a very serious argument about their race, and as a result, they started using abusive language for each other. To your amusement, the messages were still visible, so you read the thread, and you were in time to read all the messages before the admin deleted the comments and the discussion. So, you will write in ‘inb4 things got erased’ in the group. Sometimes, the purpose of using inb4 followed by a word or a phrase is so that the person who reads this responds to this comment and does what action was mentioned in the comment. For example, since you said ‘before it got erased’, there is a possibility that the admins might have forgotten to take action for the two members who were abusing, and now that you made that comment, they might as well take the action of erasing the messages and deleting the two members as an example for the rest of the group.
Example 2
Similarly, another group discussion, which is about how the world is becoming super dry and the need to save water, is a need of time. One of the users, who is usually seen as the ‘joker’ of the group, comments after reading many serious comments about the topic, for instance, ‘inB4 someone shares another sponge bob gif’. The reason why he made that comment was that he expected someone else from the discussion, would post a gif after reading their inb4 comment.
Example 3
In a discussion forum, when someone intends to get a response from anyone else in the forum that they are part of, people use the word ‘inb4’ followed by the action they want the other person to take. For instance, you want someone to share a list of links on the forum related to the previous comments, and as a reply, you write, ‘inb4 someone shares the links’ for this post. And as a response to your comment, someone might as well just share the links you were talking about in your ‘inb4’ comment/contribution to the thread. Sometimes it helps you get the response that you had been expecting.
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