Now LOL we respond ASAP, BYOB to parties and watch CSI on TV. My initial reaction (pardon the pun) is that we’re getting too lazy to say the full words. I get that texting is faster that way, but what about the rest of us, the people who talk or type? The use of initials has always been quite common. After all, who’s saying the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Columbia Broadcasting System, or even the United States of America? But the corporate or governmental world is one thing, the arena of common language is another. I acknowledge that Webster has many abbreviations listed as acceptable substitutes. Some of the more obvious ones are television, representatives, commercials, executives, promotions, sit-ups, fax, web, vet, and government. That’s right, these are short for actual words, for those who don’t realize that “fax” is actually a “facsimile”.
The problem with people who tend to write with acronyms is that they still have to communicate. Many of the youngsters believe that everyone knows what the initials stand for. So when they post an ad on Craig’s List, they assume we would know what SWF4M is, for LTR with DINK. This is an actual list. Depending on your age and situation, you may or may not know what this means. Try “I am a single white woman seeking a man for a long-term relationship that could lead to dual income with no children.” Wasn’t that EZ?
But it gets even better with text messaging. Try this: WRUD. PRW. LYLAS. OTTOMH, PMFJI, ROTFLUTS, GL/HF. You better know them because they are going to be the basic phrases of the next generation. You can consult them on the net, but I will translate one for you to start with. ROTFLUTS is “rolling on the floor laughing and unable to speak”. Get it?
Saying goodbye instead of goodbye is a no-brainer. Using the $ sign for money, ditto. Even throwing a smiley face can be cute. But TLK2UL8R is ridiculous. It’s almost as long as the actual sentence, we’ll talk later. Where is the shortcut there? Or THNX, THNQ, PLZ or CUL8R? Using YR for “you”, 4 for “for”, Y for “why” and 2 for “to” is pretty routine. But where does it end? Will the next generation forget royal words altogether? Think of new TV shows. NCIS, CSI-New York, 30 Rock. We see the NBA, the NFL. or MLB on FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS or ESPN. Of course there is QVC or HSN to buy things. We used to see the “UNCLE Man”, the “United Network Law Enforcement Command”. But that was a parody of James Bond and spy movies.
And when it comes to movies, well, keep going. The sequel to Men in Black was simply “MBII”. Now most sequels just use initials. “AI” stood for Artificial Intelligence. Maybe it’s cheaper to print on posters. Who knows? We also use acronyms for phone numbers, which drives most of us crazy. Just dial 800-Shopnow or 866-Sheraton. It’s supposed to help us remember the number, but it’s hard to understand. Even domain name URLs are becoming a problem. In addition to using initials like USPS for the United States Postal Service on your site, there’s dot com, gov, biz, org, net, edu, mil (military), int, info, and us. Add to that another group of countries, like uk, au, fr, ru, etc., and where do you end up? Try coop, aero, pro, cat, jobs, mail, post, tel, and xxx. Guess what the last one was for?
I know I’m probably one of the lone voices of reason, but I enjoy reading and researching on the web. I’m just afraid that one day I’ll wake up and think I’m in a foreign land because I won’t be able to understand anything. I will need a translator to read my email, classified ads or read a text message. And as it spills over into my everyday life, it can become very disconcerting. But I will continue to do my part by writing articles without shortcuts or acronyms and I hope you will do the same. That’s all for now (TAFN) and good luck and good reading (GLGR).