Why do many people assume that we all know internet abbriviations?

[Stuart G]

NO, We DONT KNOW THEM ALL!!! Some people here know them all, and some know none of them..

Assume nothing about abbreviations. We have been through this one before, and many times before. Please assume
nothing about abbreviations. ,,,Thank You....not "TY"....Stuart G

[Lochloosa]

1. YW

[soothsayer]

2. IKR

[MineralMan]

3. IMHO, Google Knows Them All

AFAIAC, that's enough. I just look them up when I don't recognize one.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. And how about when you google one of them, and several choices

pop up, none of which seem relevant?

Full words are appreciated. Or should I just type FWAA and hope you'll find that one on google?

[Treefrog]

28. Same here.

Half the time though, I don’t even bother lol.

[FreeState]

4. I use Google if I dont know what something is

🤷

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Why? Writing for own ego, not reader benefit? Lack of empathy, insularity, youth, one-finger typist?

[Bettie]

25. Ease of use when on a mobile device

instead of a keyboard?

[Paladin]

6. Urban Dictionary is your friend.

And really entertaining, to boot. Check out their daily "trending" collection.

[Towlie]

34. People who aren't too lazy (or too illiterate) to spell words out are better friends.

 
←

[Paladin]

38. May their tribe increase. (nt)

[ismnotwasm]

7. IBTL

[keithbvadu2]

8. Abbreviations...

Abbreviations...

www... nine syllables

world wide web... three syllables

[TreasonousBastard]

9. First--- anything to make typing on a phone easier...

But, after that it's just showing off.

[Effete Snob]

10. YMMV

[11 Bravo]

11. IDK

[FakeNoose]

12. I think it's the cellphone people

Must be a conspiracy against us desktop/laptop users. (We're smarter and better looking too.)

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. IMHO, that is what google is for

[FreepFryer]

14. You're on the internet. (Nt)

[Binkie The Clown]

15. Languages evolve. These abbreviations are part of that evolution. Adapt or get left behind. nt

[SWBTATTReg]

16. OMG!

[Stuart G]

17. How about this one?.......Sayonara ......for this thread....

[malaise]

18. I don't mind

I just look them up

[Stuart G]

19. I have looked up a whole lot today....from this thread!!!

Unfortunately, I probably will not remember all of them..but we live and learn..

[malaise]

20. My younger relatives use tham all the time

so I have to look them up. Trust me _ I have to look some up more than once

[GoodRaisin]

21. I google most of them. But,

I'd rather not have to if it's easy enough to type it out. I think we as a society use way too many acronyms/abbreviations where it would make sense just to type the real thing.

[dalton99a]

22. OK

[KentuckyWoman]

23. We had them in my childhood ...

Some I remember

SWAK
AWOL
XOXO
ASAP

I also distinctly remember getting in trouble for passing a note to a friend that said the teacher is a FH (Fat Head)

My sister, who was quite earthy, was engaged and sent a letter to her husband to be - off at basic training - with CHIN on the back. My father came all unglued. I'd forgotten it until my sister was ill and we were living together again for a time. Memories - and she told me it meant "Come Home I'm Naked".


RADAR
SNAFU
LASER
FBI
SCUBA
ZIP


They are all short cuts. The trick is finding out what they are when you don't know. I have to ask quite a lot too.

[Treefrog]

29. Don't forget FUBAR!

My all time fave!

[Patterson]

24. I think these offenders are weak-minded

and the likelihood of them saying something profound or worthwhile is very slim, so I am not going to waste any more time reading their nonsense.

[USALiberal]

26. Lighten up! Nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. And a lot of them aren't really internet abbreviations.

Just an abbreviation the poster makes up on the spot.

All too often when I google one of those nothing pops up that makes any sense. And trust me, every group, every profession, every area of knowledge has its own abbreviations or acronyms that have not made it into public knowledge.

[MurrayDelph]

31. Forty years ago, when I worked in aerospace

I tried to convince management on the need for a TLA-D.

Most of these texting abbreviations can be traced backwards through blogs, bulletin boards, Usenet groups, and APAs.

[hvn_nbr_2]

32. Actually they don't assume that. They just don't care.

They're more interested in hearing their own words than in communicating anything.

When people speak to me in ancient Greek crossword puzzle clues, I don't go to the internet ancient Greek crossword puzzle clue lookup gizmo to try to figure out what they said--I just ignore them because they're obviously not trying to communicate with me.

[Raine]

33. I don't bother using them except LOL and NT (no text).

When a poster uses a bunch of abbreviations I either know them or I don't. I usually don't have time to look all that up unless the post itself is really interesting.

[48656c6c6f20]

35. I don't know whether to use Abriv or Abrev?

So you stumped me.

[csziggy]

36. It used to be fine when we paid for internet by the byte

Back when I was on CompuServe, acronyms such as IMO, TY, IANAL*, etc. saved those on low baud rate connections time and us all money. But nowadays, very few people are even left on dial up and most have unlimited (though perhaps capped) web access.

* IMO = In My Opinion
TY = Thank You
IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer

[tonedevil]

37. Ok, tell me which ones you don't know. /nt

[Hekate]

39. IDK

Seriously, I get the point. ICYMI drove me crazy until I finally googled it and wrote it down. It’s In Case You Missed It.

[Raine]

42. Thanks 👍 I didn't know what ICYMI meant

I see it often but never took the time to look it up.

[Hekate]

44. It was driving me crazy: "Icy" what? "I see" something? Ack!

Glad to share.

[Iggo]

40. Fucking Many! I hate Many!

[edhopper]

41. I agree Stu

and some that are only two or three letters are not defined on Google.

[Shellback Squid]

43. wtf

why take facts?

[phylny]

48. That's one of my husband's favorite lines from Modern Family.

“WTF - why the face?”

[liberal_mama]

45. The other day someone used the word "FINNA"

I have no idea what that means!

[Iggo]

46. Fixin' to.

[tritsofme]

47. iykyk