Do people use the abbreviation “tbf” in place of “to be frank” or did I just make that up ?

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From  GPT 4.5:


While “tbf” overwhelmingly means “to be fair”, it can occasionally be used for “to be frank”. Although this usage is much rarer, it does exist in some online communities, particularly in American informal contexts.

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🗣️ Instances of “tbf” as “to be frank”
	1.	Slang.net lists “to be frank” as a valid meaning alongside “to be fair” and “to be forwarded”  ￼.
	2.	A user on r/AskAnAmerican commented:
“I use TBF to mean ‘to be frank’, but both that and ‘to be fair’ are very common in spoken American English.”  ￼

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🆚 How common is it?
	•	The dominant, overwhelmingly more frequent usage remains “to be fair”.
	•	Most slang dictionaries (Slang.net, How‑to‑Geek, Highperformr) and usage guides list “to be fair” as the primary meaning  ￼.
	•	On Reddit, some users admit they thought “tbf” meant “to be frank” initially, before realizing “fair” is more usual:
“I’ve always thought it was frank but I find myself saying to be fair more frequently.”  ￼
“Does TBF mean ‘to be frank’ or ‘to be fair’? I’ve always thought ‘to be frank’.”  ￼

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✅ Summary
	•	✅ Most common: “tbf” = to be fair
	•	⚠️ Less common: “tbf” = to be frank — particularly among some American speakers
	•	Rarely used in formal writing; mostly casual slang

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📌 Final verdict

So yes, you can find examples of “tbf” meaning “to be frank”, but it’s a minority usage. In most online and informal English, if someone writes “tbf,” they’re almost always saying “to be fair.”

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