Acronyms

[Taco-Calamitous]

They make me lol. Especially in this day and age of the internets, where I see new ones all the time, and think to myself, "...what does that mean?" For example: Today, this kid on dA responded to my message, "IkR!" and I had to look it up. And then I was like, "Oh, I get it now!"

Have you ever decided to take one of these acronyms and give them your own personal meaning? For example, BFF, "Best Friends Forever," to me means "Best. Fucking. Friend." Every time I see it. Even though I know that's not what it means. And Dodie likes to type "idk" a lot, so at one point asked her, "You decay?" And she rolls her eyes or something, I imagine. And that is its meaning to this day. Thus spaketh the Telegraph.

Then there are more lame ones, like "Final Fantsasy 7: Air Conditioning" (and I actually think "Air Conditioning" when I see it. Like, "your AC is out!") Or Dragon Quest is Dairy Queen. DQ something different!

Before I get too lame with this, like I asked above, do you have any incorrect meanings that you associate with acronyms? Or do they confuse you like they confuse me? Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[midgetbob]

Yeah... some of them are kinda, weird. Though, found this was helpful a long time ago. ha

Internet Acronyms

[Clint]

I have no problem with acronyms if it's commonly used in replace of a title or a name of an organization or service. I understand what FBI, NFPA, RADAR, and CHEMTREC stand for. I just don't know what the hell crap like LMAO means. Whenever I see "LMAO," I always associate it with the acronym "LAMO," which obviously means "look at my orifice."

The problems with acronyms used in everyday writing is that one can easily assign a completely different meaning to it then it was originally intended, because there is no universal set acronym for any of them. You don't really see people going around making up words. I wouldn't call somebody too guntampana for their own good, because that's just ****ing retarded, just like made up acronyms.

[loaf]

BFF = Butt ****ing Friend

[Tallulah]

My mother thinks LOL means 'lots of love'. I got this text from her this morning, it was regarding my recent ankle injury. I told her it's still hurting walking down stairs and she replied with '...hope the pain stops soon lol mum'. It took me a few seconds to realise what it meant.

EDIT: I was surprised to find from the page midgetbob supplied that 'acronym' is an acronym itself.

[Dodie16]

And Dodie likes to type "idk" a lot, so at one point asked her, "You decay?" And she rolls her eyes or something, I imagine. And that is its meaning to this day. Thus spaketh the Telegraph.

Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

Yeah, now I have to watch what I type when I chat with you on MSN, or we'll just get into another discussion about how I decay.

I've had to look up what some acronyms were before because I didn't know what they were supposed to mean. I was chatting with someone on MSN before, and they typed out "KK". I asked what "KK" stood for, and they said it was another way to say "OK"... There's a two-letter acronym for a two letter abbreviation?

Also, put me as another who didn't know that acronym was an acronym! Haha! That amuses me.

[Trunks]

BFF= Bro's forever, ****er! Although I'd accept best ****ing friends. I think that's the only one I have.

For a long, long time I had no idea what 'ttyl' meant. I didn't even try assigning anything to it because it's confusing enough already. I hate acronyms with a passion. They're like inside jokes I never got a memo about.

I've had to look up what some acronyms were before because I didn't know what they were supposed to mean. I was chatting with someone on MSN before, and they typed out "KK". I asked what "KK" stood for, and they said it was another way to say "OK"... There's a two-letter acronym for a two letter abbreviation?

I liked that Dodie. Lol, rofl, lmao, lmfao, rolmfaowdritlr (Roll over laughing my f*cking arse off whilst drinking ribena in the living room). <---- That's what annoys me. When acronyms evolve.

Or when people make words from them like lolcat, or rolfcopter. Sure, they sound funny the first time but then you're just making a world from a selection of words. It isn't so cute when said as laughoutloudcat.

Somebody once said to me g'byesies. What's that all about? I get that they were probably trying to be cute but please... There's a craze out there for using abbreviations longer than the actual word. Not cool. It confuses bro's like me.

Bottom line is that they confuse me. I hardly ever know what they mean. They also annoy the crap out of me because I can't help but use them.

I wish Arnie were here; he had a way with words.

'GET TO 'D CHOPPAAAA!!'

[Kaiden]

Just not a big fan of trying to figure them out. When I use to play MMO's, I was terrible at understanding them. I always felt like an idiot asking what things meant. I can understand there use in a fast paced game, but everyday speech?

[midgetbob]

Some of us military folks live off acronyms. It's quite ridiculous when we go on about something and our friends just stare at us blank faced. This is what I always think of when acronyms and the military is concerned:

If the VP is such a VIP...

[rJ floW]

NSFRN = Not suitable for real _________

some of the common words are really acronyms, like Laser...academic post of the day

[Rocky]

The most important acronym of them all...

[Rhaps]

The "Beastie" in Beastie Boys is an acronym
Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence
Whenever I see ROFL or LOL I always see them as words and not acronyms and pronounce them as such (lowl, roffle)

[GypsyElder]

Midgetbob's link:
AFB
Away From Brain

I'm so using this one, perfect for me and my unlimited supply of typos "hLau".

[Treize]

Some of us military folks live off acronyms. It's quite ridiculous when we go on about something and our friends just stare at us blank faced. This is what I always think of when acronyms and the military is concerned:

The military is ridiculous with acronyms. I swear it seems like half the terms I come across when reading military stuff are acronyms! As far as I'm aware, no one is even taught what these acronyms stand for, so it seems nonsensical. Acronyms are pointless if the audience that you are writing for isn't familiar with them. It just makes things confusing. Several times, I've been reading something with other people, and none of us have any idea what is going one because of the stupid acronyms.

[RagnaToad]

Not all abbreviations are acronyms.

[JuzamDjinn]

^ correct, Ragnatoad.


Technically alot of what we are seeing are initialisms.

An acronym is a name from initials that you pronounce as a word.
for example: NATO, SCUBA, NAFTA, AIDS

An initialism is the a collection of initials that is pronounced as a group of letters.
for example: WTF, LOL, NFL, NAACP, USMC


Not trying to sound like a ****, just an interesting bit of informaion to throw out there.

[Unknown Entity]

I'm not a big fan of them, although I use a couple - the well known ones, such as 'lol', 'lmao', 'fml', 'imo' and 'idk'.

I hate having to work out what they mean as new ones seem to pop up everywhere. First time someone sent me a text with 'wuu2?', I was baffled and sent 'Haha, I think you sent that to the wrong person mate!'. I mean if I say "jmaj", or even "jfcward", who'll get what I mean? Go on, first person to get it will get a cheap vCommerce from me.

But yeah. I suppose they're useful when everyone understands what they mean. Otherwise, the time it takes for person B to work out what person A was trying to say, person A might as well have taken the effort to write the whole thing. >>;

EDIT: Oh yeah. I thought 'lol' meant 'lots of love' too once. My friend got a text from some guy she liked one break time at school, and she asked me if I knew what it meant. Lets just say she spent a good few hours thinking he liked her back. ^^;;

[JuzamDjinn]

back when I first started using AIM, back in the late '90s when people used AIM I thoguht 'lol" wasjust some kind of period. ...it was used like one.

And I thought "brb" was to represent a burp of something.

[Rocky]

a lot of people say lol when they run out of stuff to say, so in a way you are correct