- Guess we’re playing aimtag here.
AIMtag
noun; compounding
like phone-tag, when AOL Instant Messages are exchanged repeatedly, but neither conversant is present at the same time, and so replies suffer a long delay I made this up myself, actually, because it just popped into my head. I always forget to put on away messages, so I frequently come back to find someone wrote me, but it might have been 5 minutes or 5 hrs previous. So i reply, but odds are they aren't around either, so I leave... it's a vicious cycle. Anyway, we've long had phonetag, so isn't it time, with the digital revolution, that we had instant messaging tag too?
Etymology : Compounding based on form of phone-tag: AIM (acronym for AOL Instant Messenger program) + tag (a children’s game in which participants take turns chasing one another until a “tag,” or physical touch, is achieved, and the roles reverse. Its use here is metaphorical
Source : Online conversation with friend
Last modified: 10 June 2008