The Dos and Don’ts of Abbreviations
As an editor, I have a love/hate relationship with abbreviations. In today’s technology-obsessed, high-paced environment, abbreviations—or shall I say, abbrevs—are a part of our everyday lives.
Sometimes, shortening words is necessary when firing off a quick text or email: Idc wat we hav 4 din 2night (Translation: I don’t care what we have for dinner tonight), but over-abbreviate or aim your twisted text at the wrong audience and you’ll risk sounding like a middle-schooler (see below).
Here are some of my dos and don’ts of abbreviation etiquette.
DON’Ts
1. None/limited abbreviations at work. “Idk if u read my email yet?” reads like a text message to an old friend, not a professional email to a boss or coworker. These people determine how much you get paid, so show them you can spell and/or form a full sentence.
2. Anything related to gratitude and/or use of manners should be spelled out. My parents taught me in preschool that the magic words were “Please” and “Thank You,” not pls and tnx/thx. When someone pls’s and thx’s me, I read them as pliss and tanx, so in my mind, I feel like they’re the opposite of politesse.
3. Save the shortenings (like OMG) for your girlfriends, not the opposite sex. Remember: you are trying to come off as the smart, worldly woman that you are. Pepper too many LOLs into an email and you’ll sound like an annoying 13-year-old.
4. While you may shorten in some text messages, those who over-use this “time-saver”-type of writing get annoying. The use of “u” over you especially maddens me. Exercise those fingers! If you can’t reach for the stars, at least reach for those two extra letters. You can do it!
5. No abbreviating for the elderly. Satisfying the teenage need to piss off and/or confuse your parents/grandparents by using terms their technologically-unsavvy selves cannot understand is immature. Same goes with over-abbreviating on purpose to make your older boss seem out-of-it (see also: #1).
DO
1. Feel free to make up new abbreviations when/where appropriate. This can even be “fun,” an annoyingly amusing test of cleverness. Sometimes I feel like Merriam or Webster themselves when I’m trying to figure out how to spell the abbreviated version of a word like usual: u-j-e, uje, pronounced yooo-g.
2. Going along with 1, feel free to package down words to make them “cuter” where appro (…priate). Obsession just looks so darn adorable as obsessh.
3. Abbreviate to impress with schmaltzier codes—ones like apt. (for apartment) are recognized by reputable sources like the USPS (instead of the abbrev-obsessed Twitter community).
4. At work, industry abbreviations make you seem savvy. For example, EOD means end of day in editor-speak. Stet means to leave something alone. CTA can mean call to action. Learn your profession’s condensed jargon, and shorten away to seem smart!
5. Okay, okay, I feel myself dying a little bit as an editor as I tell you this…but even I have used absurd abbreviations in the name of Twitter limitations. With only 140 characters and a bit.ly or ow.ly (or whatever .ly) link to get a pt. (point?) across, it’s acceptable to be as brief and abbreviated as possible.
-Cait Rohan
GIRL TALK TIME: Do you abbreviate words often? What abbreviations do you use? Does it get on your nerves when people abbreviate? In what situations? Spill all your abbreviation opinions now!
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16 Comments
Post a CommentWith my girls I use some abbrevs but try for the most to spell the word out.
I abbreviate in my texts but sometimes I wish there was more than 160 characters, somedays I have so much to say and want to cram it all in one text, LOL
Most of the time abbreviations annoy me.
I do tend to abbreviate, but not all the time.. I try not to do it in work emails.. mostly texts. What annoys me greatly is when people mispell certain words, may i be on purpose or not.
Abbreviations can be annoying especially when I have to read the txt/email several times before understanding what some abbreviated words are!!!
I don’t like too many abbreviations when I get a text or email. I spend too much time trying to decode what I am reading. I will use a few now and then, but for the most part I only use LOL.
I can’t stand it when a fellow coworker ends a company email or memo with “LOLz” and “10-Q”. Are we working at the mall?
i agree with abbreviations during text messages, but i truely despise when ppl say them out loud in actual sentences.
the only words i abbreviate is people (ppl) laugh out loud (lol) laughing my butt out (lmbo) i dont know (idk) and i dont care (idc)I hate when people abbreviate every little thing like this :
i hate wen ppl abbreviate every lil thin like dis
ughhh so annoying
i am surrounded by acroynymns at work and that can be just as crazy.
The only abbreviation I use when texting is “LOL”, and (very rarely) “OMG”. I HATE it when people text me and the entire text is abbreviated. It’s annoying and I hate having to translate everything they say.
At work I don’t but text to gf’s I do
I just have a flip-phone and never got the hang of T-9, so most text abbreviations are not just ok but prefferred for me, like “bc,” “omw,” etc., but some are just too much. This guy I was dating and had a ton of problems with (which made his texts irritate me more of course) was always using “U” multiple times, and though “u” or “ur” is ok for quick texts, they’re not ok over and over, much less in serious texts, like trying to get me back, and saying “I really do miss u for who u are”!!!! Really?! Btw he was 30! (Btw is ok.)
One of my newer likes is “Sys” for see you soon. Thumbs up. I somehow didn’t know that one until a (different) guy started sending that to me and it made so much sense to use.
In e-mails, I really only like “def” for definitely (and of course “esp.,” ttyl/ttys, and “apt” for apartment, isn’t that a given? at least in NY), and in really fast IMs/e-mails “tom” is ok for “tomorrow.” Almost anything else in an e-mail is overkill (esp. thinking of the same guy that wrote those ridiculous “u’s” so many times in texts…I strongly dislike, in e-mails, “wknd,” “tmrw/tmw,” “mtg,” “abt,” etc.). Really, it’s an e-mail, with an ergonomically designed keyboard, reach up and type those 3 extra letters!
I usually only abbreviate in quick texts to my friends. As for Twitter, I find myself typing out what I want to say and then going back to words and getting creative to figure out how I can abbreviate them. It’s definitely not my instinct to type “u” and “4″, but sometimes shaving off those few letters is just what I need to meet my character limit.
Some abrevs are just not approp for professional emails though. obvi.
I’m a wordy girl but I can shorten a thought like nobody’s business! 140 characters or less is my specialty!
As a former editor myself, I have the same relationship with abbrevs! I don’t use them nearly as much as most of my friends, but I have been known to bust one out every so often. TTYL!