Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Acronyms

I found this cool website that would take your name and create words related to your personality and then I started thinking about how acronyms have taken over the way we write and speak. (Note to self: always test the code on your site before publishing. Apparently the code doesn't go over well enough for anyone to see except me in edit mode - geez - this is why I don't like "writing" my own code.) So for your enjoyment my name TWO ROADS became:

Tickling, Warm,Oversmart, Responsible, Orderly, Awesome, Delicious, Smooth

I think the employees at IBM(aka I've Been Moved) invented these things. If you have EVER had a conversation with anyone working or did work for IBM, you will know that these people only speak in acronyms. Started with PC (personal computer) which then became PC (politically correct) and it was downhill from there.

Acronyms absolutely drive me crazy. I had to know proper spelling and grammar to graduate from high school and college. I text message in long-hand – I limit my use of acronyms. FWIW (for what it's worth) my first encounter with acronyms was my senior year in high school. Every Friday before school started there was a "senior" breakfast (of course you had to pay for your own meal) at the International House of Pancakes. Obviously because only so much information could fit on our flyers it got shorten to IHOP. Next came ADIDAS (all day I dream about sex). I never could (and to this day can’t) wear my Adidas T-shirt without thinking about sex.

Now take LOL. Some people think it stands for Laugh Out Loud others Lots of Love. How are you supposed to interpret an LOL when you receive a LOL from a supposedly platonic friend in response to a message that is not a joke? IMHO (in my humble opinion) I usually just ask – WTF (what the f*ck)?

But when I am reading other people’s blogs I run into all sorts of acronyms which confound me since I haven’t been a long time reader – MID – men I dated; DTMFA – dump the mother f*cker already; HNT – half-naked Thursdays; ICG – incredibly cute girl; CUNT – see you next Tuesday; WAMH – with all my heart (I had to go to a lingo website to figure this one out and it’s actually a nice one too!)

So the next time you are stuck with an unfamiliar acronym, here’s a useful website: http://lingo2word.com/index.php Unless of course the writer is making up their own acronym then you will just have to ask – WTF?

Tags: , ,

3 comments:

Paperback Writer said...

I really hate the shorthand that text messaging has created. Not only is it destroying proper grammar but spelling as well!

Two Roads said...

PW - it bugs me too about the spelling. I don't like writing anything by hand for fear of not spelling something correctly. Spellcheck is just bad!

Paperback Writer said...

:) My handwriting is atrocious. But yet I still write by hand. Oh, well.