Hell is Acronyms.

[shadowkat]

Is it just me or are has language in general suffered from an over-abundance of acronyms? Miss the old days, which weren't that long ago, were I could go 12 months before I heard a new one. Between work and my personal life? I spend most of my time trying to figure out what the heck people are saying. I blame text messaging, blackberries, IM (instant messaging), facebook and twitter personally.

Here's a short list of abbreviations that I have no clue what they mean that have been thrown at me during the last week. Usually I can sort of figure out by context. And for a few I sort of have - but those are work related.

1. TMI - I give up, no idea
2. SOP - Standard Operating Practice?
3. MPT - I'm pretty sure this means Motor Permit Traffic or something in that regard.
4. RFI - request for information
5. 60 Lift - this is a man-lift

And there are so many more. Every time I think I know all of them, a new one appears.
So, if you use acronyms a lot? Please post the ones you use the most frequently with the definition attached as a comment?

Comments

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Hmm, the only one I know is TMI: too much information

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

TMI and SOP are the only ones I recognise, and TMI is the only one I'd ever use myself (Too Much Information).

I tend not to use acronyms or abbreviations if I can help it, unless of course it's something like 'BBC' or 'USA' that everybody uses. In fact, I probably waste too much of my life typing them out in full. :-\

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're gonna regret that time lost as you lie awake in your final hours.

One of my fave acronyms is ASAP.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

YCBR. IYKWIM.

I think more time is lost by other people trying to work out what the acronyms mean, than by the person typing them out in full. ;-)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think the established rule is - you can use acronyms if you know for a fact that the person you are communicating with knows what they mean and can clearly tell from the context.

example - we all know i.e. means in other words. Or a.s.a.p - means as soon as possible.

But...RFP can mean one of two things. In most American Businesses it means Request for Proposal. But for writers - it means Red Frigging Print. Another example ETA - in business means estimated time of arrival, but online it means edited to add.

You also have business specific acronyms such as BAFO (best and final offer), MBE - Minority Owned Business, PW - prevailing wage, and TB&TA - The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.
(Sigh - my business has 1000s of acronyms, it's enough to give me a headache. We have OGS, OEM, NTP, NOA, ICE, IFB , LIRR,
MTA, FAR, FTA, GEC, DOER, and so on. Sometimes I feel as if no one uses words any longer. While clearly it does make sense to use FAR over Federal Acquistion Regulation all the time.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

TMI is "Too Much Information" (usually if someone tells you stuff about themselves that you really don't want to know).

You're correct about RFI (When contractors send e-mails or faxes requesting clarification of something in specs or in the plans it's called an "RFI")

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Back when I was still in the work force, in my job RFI was Radio Frequency Interference. RFQ was Request for Quotation (asking for a bid). ASAP was used quite a bit. SOP is usually Standard Operation Procedure although your version is perfectly acceptable.

Back in Missouri it was just the Highway Patrol. Here in AZ it's DPS, Department of Public Safety, although the cars usually say Highway Patrol as well.

I saw AON on Jeopardy on TV the other day and correctly guessed it's Apropos of Nothing. I've never seen that one in real life, and the contestants didn't get it.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

AON is a new one. BTW often confuses me - because some people use it to mean By the Way, while others use it as an abbrev of Between or Between Us. Also ETA used to drive me nuts - because at work it means Estimated Time of Arrival, while online it means Edited to Add.

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

Here in PA we have PennDOT -- Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

BTW, lots and lots and lots of acronyms in technical fields such as audio electronics-- RIAA, EIA, UL, CSA, CMRR, DNR (Dynamic Noise Reduction, not the other DNR), radio and TV bands such as AM, FM, LW, SW, VHF, UHF, EHF, SHF, just plain ol' RF and IF, dBF, dBM, THD, IM, TIM, CW (Continuous Wave), FFT, RMS, and of course CD, DVD and all their many permutations, LCD, DLP, LED, LDR, ECB, SGD, SCR, FET and about several hundered others which escape my memory at the moment.

And then the computer peeps had to go and add all their stuff to mine. Eeesh!

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Oh no, did I bring this on for using 'TMI' recently in a reply to your comment at my meme? Sorry, I thought that that one had almost reached the level of use as asap or rsvp (that is to say, I thought it was in the common usage and not just online any more).

I'm afraid I don't know any of the others, although MPT meant Minnesota Public Television back when I lived in Minneapolis! lol
But I think it also frequently means metropolitan public transit.