AWOL
Acronyms are sometimes misleading, but often amusing.
I’m not really AWOL, that is, ‘absent without leave,’ because AFAIK (as far as I know) I don’t need any BYL (by your leave) to post on my own blog.
IMHO (in my humble opinion) it’s usually advisable to follow the advice to KISS (keep it simple, stupid) and not release TMI (too much information)
IDK (I don’t know) how many people are subject to FOMO (fear of missing out) and TBH (to be honest), FYI (for your information) it’s NOMB (none of my business)
LMK (let me know) if you have any favourite acronyms or if you regard them as a waste of time and effort (WOTAE)
Making up my own, now (MUMO) so it’s time to go (TTG)
TTFN (ta-ta
for now)
I'm learning and using more and more of these to help me connect with my favourite younger millennials and Gen Z'ers.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite difficult to keep up, and sometimes they're not fit to repeat! 😧
DeleteNgl, this was a great summary wrt acronyms.
ReplyDeleteTy!
ReplyDeleteOnly "lol" for laugh out loud. My girlfriend and I still email using "ha ha" but I never see that on blogs.
ReplyDelete😀
DeleteDoh? Thank you for adding the translations. The only one I think I ever used regularly was FAO. I really disliked it when my younger colleagues actually started speaking in acronyms - pronouncing them as words.
ReplyDeleteActually, I find acronyms irritating. 😊
DeleteI know and sometimes use most of those. They come in handy when messaging the grandkids who text in very strange 'language' with ease.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed - mine still use normal language with me.
DeleteThat's funny, we just have 3 students here and the game was to find the signification of the "Youth language" (mdr means mourir de rire) in English LOL ! The pour grannies and pappies were lost ! I knew a bit because of Dario. I still have the shingles apparently they last at least 1 month. It still hurts a bit and I have to take 5 pills per day against the virus. I had the measles when I was a child, but sometimes it comes back then called Zona, when you are old ! Phwww....
ReplyDeleteIt's not nice, I know. I hope you feel better soon. I remember my mother having it.
DeleteI've been very amused by one of the military types who has been appearing on tv lately discussing the current madness in the middle east. He seems to talk almost entirely in acronyms. He does give the longer version of things too for us civvies, but I joked with my husband that the military must hardly need to encrypt their communications as their everyday language is virtually incomprehensible anyway.
ReplyDeleteI can identify with that. My husband never fell into that habit, but one of his colleagues did - it was very irritating.
DeleteWell I 'll be brave, and you can delete if necessary. Being from the U.K., maybe you can vouch: I heard that long ago the King was concerned about the diminishing population numbers and declared "fornication upon command of the king" was the basis for the acronymn.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until I worked at the VA and my Korea era Air Corps veteran next door explained the real words for SNAFU, was that things were so frequently messed up in the military that the true meaning was that the situation was normal, all f**ked up. Makes a lot of sense these days I think. Linda in Kansas
I've never heard that explanation. I'd love it to be true! I know SNAFU and FUBAR and have been known to suggest that people should go forth and multiply.
DeleteThe only one that I can think of, is the SNF wing of the VA Home my father-in-law was in - Skilled Nursing Facilities which is referred to as "sniff".
ReplyDelete'Sniff' seems strangely appropriate.
DeleteOh, ... FFS ... it's like being back at work ... 😱
ReplyDeleteSNAFU?
DeleteI know most of the older acronyms but don't use them myself.
ReplyDeleteI find most of them quite annoying.
DeleteI got my B.A and M.A at a uni. in Vic., then lectured at a TAFE.
ReplyDeleteEducation is one of the worst professions for acronyms.
DeleteMy fat fingers don't text well on the tiny phone keyboard, so acronyms make life much easier.
ReplyDeleteNow, that's a sensible solution.
DeleteI rarely use any of these. And don't get started on LOL; that one CMH [Chaps My Hide.] I made that one up!
ReplyDeleteOh, Lord, I use LOL all the time. I apologize wholeheartedly, Bob. LOL!
DeleteI'm sorry. I also use lol. It's the only acronym I can remember.
DeleteI like CMH - perhaps we should have a competition to devise acronyms . . .
DeleteI don't know or use all of these, but I try not to FA so I don't FO.
ReplyDeletePleased to hear that!
DeleteI am going to do all I can to make WOTAE and MUMO happen! LOL!
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
DeleteThis is so clever
ReplyDeleteThank you - just a bit of fun!
DeleteI sometimes suffer from YOLO. (you only live once). Also, hope things in your life aren't FUBAR (look that one up for yourself).
ReplyDeleteNot too badly FUBAR but often SNAFU!
DeleteNow, I'm thinking which ones I use???
ReplyDeleteDefinitely LOL and FYI !!!
All the best Jan
Habits are so hard to break. 😀😂
DeleteThis is very funny! We have lots of them in school but I'm not so good on the ones that are used in common conversation!
ReplyDeleteChildren's language evolves so fast, particularly with secondary school students. By the time the adults have caught up, they're out of date!
DeleteI find backronyms more amusing than acronyms in most cases. All is well and good with me and acronyms as long as I don't need to look up their definition. I got fairly savvy with their use/meanings out of necessity if I wanted to communicate with my son when he was in his teen years but it seems like they have proliferated faster than rabbits and rats and now I find him asking WTH I mean when using them. But my favorite will always be FFS. I try to stick with it rather than using the actual words. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI had to look up backronyms, so thank you for that. I always had a suspicion that some acronyms had been artificially coined.
DeleteMost days when I check the news I SMH and wonder WTAF.
ReplyDeleteLikewise!
DeleteAcronyms drive me crazy because I can't remember what they mean, except lol. We have loads of acronyms at work, such as fofo and fomo and cst and I can't remember the others. Every time I see one, I sit and stare at it. Sometimes I can figure out what it means, but most of the time I can't. Maybe I should invent some of my own and put them in notes to drive other employees crazy.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I think acronyms can be a way of isolating people who are external to a situation, a sort of way of proving superiority. You should create some of your own, just to get your own back.
DeleteLol comes instantly to me when typing but otherwise it slows me down if I use acronyms.
ReplyDelete'Proper' language is always preferable.
DeleteWhat a fascinating read. Luckily gifted with a short memory I can't remember one of them.
ReplyDeleteThe world is confusing enough without making it incomprehensible to so many of us,
ReplyDeleteCleverly done! Acronyms are a way of life but they can drive me crazy, especially when reading a book when various UN agencies (for example) are referred to and after a page or two you have forgotten what they all stand for. TTFN - David
ReplyDeleteQuite so. It is an exclusionary way of communicating.
DeleteThe only ones I use are LOL and ROFL and sometimes OMG. When I read something that has them in it I often have a hard time figuring out what they're supposed to mean
ReplyDeleteI think thry're sometimes used deliberately to confuse.
DeleteI'm familiar with AWOL as that is often used orally as well. (I recall initially hearing it as "A wall" and it took me a while before I properly understood what it stood for). Of all the others you mention, I think the only one familiar to me was FYI. Depending on context I might possibly have understood a few more, perhaps, but had probably got stuck on others. One I do use sometimes in texting and blog commenting is LOL.
ReplyDeleteI know I responded to your comment yesterday, and yet, there it isn't!
DeleteI had to laugh at 'a wall' and can quite understand the confusion.
Laughing, lest I cry. Every institution I worked at had a horrible acronym problem; the worst was a medical group where I got so annoyed I made a cheat sheet and passed it around at a board meeting. To applause.
ReplyDeleteWell done! Some people seem so superior in their usage of acronyms.
Delete