[Usenet, particularly rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan] Abbrev. of
‘tangent’, as in off on a tangent
, and synonym
for OT. A number of hacker-humor synonyms are used
for TAN in some newsgroups. Instances such as BEIGE, OFF-WHITE,
BROWNISH-GRAY, and LIGHT BROWN have been observed. It is generally
understood on newsgroups with this convention that any color descriptor is
a TAN synonym if (a) used as the first word(s) of the topic of a Usenet
post, (b) written in ALL CAPS, and (c) followed immediately by a
colon. Usage: OFF-WHITE: 2000 Presidential candidates
on an
SF newsgroup.