As much as I appreciate having a computer and access to the internet, I must confess to often missing the days of old. Remember anxiously awaiting the mail, looking forward to a newsy letter from a relative or friend a distance away, an added treat at times one would even find an enclosed photograph to hold and even frame? And, what about the beautiful post cards sent and others received from friends or family visiting far away, exotic places? There are few things more special, when communicating with those we love, than holding a letter in hand, seeing words and phrases in their own handwriting and oh, lest we forget collecting the stamps off of envelopes sent from far away. For about the last decade or so though, such old fashioned niceties of communication have more often than not fallen by the wayside.
Today we have all sorts of options whether it be sending texts from a cell phone and what seems like countless options in social media. Certainly there are positives, such as receiving a text message when one is unable to call be it due to locale, hour of the day, etc. E-mails which can be sent and received immediately rather than waiting for days or weeks for a letter to be processed through the postal service. Then, there is social media and how truly amazing it is to be able to post how one is feeling, current happenings, announcements, sharing photos, videos and links to things we enjoy, to name but a few. It’s no wonder our society has become one reliant on immediate gratification given all that we have right at our finger tips.
With electronic communication has also come what seems to be a whole new language. Yes, I’m speaking of the acronyms so many use in lieu of writing out a complete thought. These can be fun to use but how many of us have a clue what most of those little abbreviations mean? (Talk about needing elderly assistance!) Well, if you hang on with me you’ll find links and a list of popular acronyms being used which will help any senior at home, on their own. Who knows, you might surprise a niece, nephew or even grandchild by your new found knowledge. Believe it or not it can actually be fun. For instance, we have a niece who loved to e-mail but we were often dumbfounded by what seemed like the foreign language of electronic communications. We asked that she be more distinct but to no avail. So let me share this little story…
One day after receiving an e-mail that took what seemed like forever to decipher, I took to the internet searching for all the text abbreviations I could find and wow, were there a lot! Next step was to study my compiled list to better understand how to write an e-mail response composed almost entirely of those popular acronyms so widely used by today’s youth. My spouse and I ended up having a grand time creating a response which consisted of about 80% acronyms. Granted, it took longer to compose our e-mail than reading hers but, once the final product was complete, off it was sent through whatever mystifying way e-mails are sent.
A few days passed with no response then suddenly we received a note from our dear niece. I must confess we delighted in her brief, clearly written, response: Dear Auntie and Uncle, I am so sorry for the delay in getting back to you but it’s taken days for me to decipher your e-mail!!! From there she sincerely apologized for making her messages so difficult for us to read and promised to write in actual, real English in the future. Whew, what a relief as neither of us were sure we would be so fortunate again as to be able to compose even one more e-mail filled with those ridiculous acronyms! In closing this story, I will simply say all we could do was LOL!
Kindly note, the following list is comprised of numerous acronyms used by many day-to-day; while others, are simply fun little abbreviations focused mostly on elders:
2MORO: Tomorrow
2NITE: Tonight
ATD: At The Doctor’s
B4N: Bye For Now
BCNU: Be Seeing You
BFF: Best Friend Forever –or– Best Friend Farted
BRB: Be Right Back
BTW: By The Way –or– Bring The Wheelchair
CBM: Covered By Medicare
CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center
DBEYR: Don’t Believe Everything You Read
DWI: Driving While Incontinent
FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Disinformation
FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers
FWIW: For What It’s Worth –or– Forgot Where I Was
FYI: Found Your Insulin
GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!
GHA: Got Heartburn Again
GR8: Great
HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
ILY: I Love You
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion –or– Is My Hearing-Aid On?
IRF: In Real Life
ISO: In Search Of
J/K: Just Kidding
L8R: Later
LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out
LMTO: Laugh My Tush Off
LOL: Laugh Out Loud –or– Living On Lipitor
LWO: Lawrence Welk’s On
LYLAB: Love You Like A Brother
LYLAS: Love You Like A Sister
MHOTY: My Hat’s Off To You
NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard
NP: No Problem
NWOM: Not WithOut Me
NWOY: Not WithOut You
OIC: Oh I See
OMG: Oh My G-d
OMMR: On My Massage Recliner
OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.
OT: Off Topic
POV: Point Of View
RBTL: Read Between The Lines
RT: Real Time –or– ReTweet
ROFLOL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud
ROFL…CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing…And Can’t Get Up
ROFLMTO: Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Tush Off
RTM: Read The Manual
SGGP: Sorry, Gotta Go Poop
SITD: Still In The Dark
SWAK: Sealed (or Sent) With A Kiss
TLC: Tender Loving Care
TMI: Too Much Information
TTYL: Talk To You Later –or– Talk To You Louder
TYVM: Thank You Very Much
VBG: Very Big Grin
WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?
WEG: Wicked Evil Grin
WYWH: Wish You Were Here
WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again
WTP: Where are The Prunes?
WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil
XOXO: Kisses and Hugs
For those who would like to share their own experiences, advice which might be of help to others, questions or ideas for this Blog please feel welcome and encouraged to do so by commenting below.
For those who would like to share their own experiences, advice which might be of help to others, questions or ideas for this Blog please feel welcome and encouraged to do so by commenting below.