okay so ive been listening to a lot of HF lately since i just got my general and honestly i feel like people are speaking a completely different language half the time. i know QSL means like... confirm? and QTH is location i think but then theres all these other ones i keep hearing and i have no idea. someone said QRM to me the other day and i just said yeah thanks lol. also what about the number things like 73 and 88, my elmer mentioned those but didnt really explain them. is there a good way to just learn all this or do people just pick it up over time

yeah you pretty much just pick it up over time honestly, thats how most people do it. but to answer your question QRM is interference from other stations, like man-made noise, whereas QRN is natural static or atmospheric noise. QRZ means whos calling me, youll hear that a lot on CW especially. QSB is fading signal. there are literally hundreds of them but most people only use like a dozen or so in regular conversation so dont stress about memorizing all of them at once.

73 just means best regards, its kind of the standard sign-off everyone uses. 88 is love and kisses, usually only sent to close friends or significant others, you dont just throw that one around at strangers. some people have strong opinions about using 88 casually so just be aware of that. there used to be a whole Q code book published by the ARRL but honestly just googling a list and keeping it next to your radio for a while works fine, eventually it just clicks

oh man i remember being exactly where you are like two years ago. the one that really confused me for the longest time was QSY which just means change frequency. seemed so weird to use a three letter code for something that simple but i guess it goes back to the telegraphy days when brevity was everything. also you'll see stuff like OM which means old man and it's not actually rude it's just how hams refer to each other, and YL means young lady which some people find a bit dated but it's still used pretty widely. XYL is wife apparently. the lingo is a lot lol