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

[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!