101

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What Does 101 Mean?

101 means "Basic Introduction (as in English 101)" or "Laugh Out Loud." It can also refer to "Room 101" (from George Orwell's book 1984).

Basic Introduction or Starter's Guide

"101" is used with a course name to show the course is a starter's guide (for example, "Astronomy 101" would be a course covering the basics of Astronomy).

The term "101" derives from the late 1920s, when US universities designed a numbering system for their lessons. The notation "101" breaks down as follows:

1. The first "1" denotes the studying year. So, this is a first-year lesson.
0. The "0" denotes the specific topic (with "0" being generic).
1. The last "1" denotes the first lesson in the sequence.

Using this system, "Astronomy 213" would be the third lesson on topic "1" (let's say, stars) for second-year students.

By the 1980s, "101" had moved from academic institutional jargon and into popular slang. The term "101" now simply means "a starter's guide."

Laugh Out Loud

"101" can be used to mean LOL (Laugh Out Loud), simply because the numbers look like the letters.

Somewhat more imaginatively, 5 is also used for LOL because "101" in binary is 5. Even more imaginatively, 120 is sometimes used for "LOL!" because, in Mathematics, 5! is equivalent to 120. (NB: 5! represents "5 factorial," which is 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1.)

Room 101

"Room 101" is the name for the basement torture chamber in the "Ministry of Love" (from George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"). In Room 100, prisoners are subjected to their own worst nightmares or fears in order to break down their resistance to the Oceania state and Big Brother. The Ministry of Love is not well named! It is responsible for inflicting misery and suffering to ensure loyalty to Big Brother.

Summary of Key Points

"Starter's Guide" or "Basic Introduction" (as in English 101)" is the most common definition for 101 on Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.