In Form no. 27
LOL - Laughing out loud
My son received this text message on his mobile phone the other day:
My son receives messages like this all the time. More surprisingly, he seems to understand them - less surprisingly, I don't. But that's because my son speaks three languages: Spanish, English and Instant Messaging (not necessarily in that order). And because I speak only two: English and Spanish (in that order).
This is a serious problem as I am no longer able to understand (AKA spy on) what my son is saying to his friends (JK). You may have a similar problem at the office with native English speaking colleagues who pepper their e-mails and text messages (SMS) with abbreviations. In the interests of better global communication - and stricter parental control (LOL) - this month's In Form brings you Instant Messaging Abbreviations for Dummies (AKA IMAS for Dummies).
| ?4U | Question for you |
| AKA | Also known as |
| ASAP | As soon as possible |
| B4N | Bye for now |
| BTW | By the way |
| BYKT | But you knew that |
| DQMOT | Don't quote me on this |
| FYI | For your information |
| G2G | Got to go |
| GOL | Giggling out loud |
| HTH | Hope this helps |
| IMAS | Instant messaging abbreviations |
| IMO | In my opinion |
| JK | Just kidding |
| LOL | Laughing out loud |
| LMK | Let me know |
| NTN | No thanks needed |
| OTOH | On the other hand |
| PCM | Please call me |
| PLS | Please |
| SMS | Short message service |
| TAFN | That's all for now |
| TBH | To be honest |
| TIA | Thanks in advance |
| TTFN | Ta ta for now |
| TTYL | Talk to you later |
| WYGOWM | Will you go out with me? |
HTH. BTW, PLS remember that overusing IMAS in your SMS and e-mails is bad communication. Keep them to an absolute minimum - and don't use them at all with people who may not understand them. BYKT. OTOH, if you'd like to learn how to write good professional English or Spanish, just sign up for one of our courses on Effective Business Writing (more information at www.readmatthews.com/courses/written.html) or Escritura Eficaz en la Empresa (more information at www.readmatthews.com/courses/writtene.html). G2G. TTFN.