Dear Crabby,
When can we say goodbye to OMG, LOL, IDK??? What’s with people today? I work with adults who constantly overuse these acronyms to the point of nausea. It’s bad enough that we’ve raised a generation of young adults who can’t speak in full sentences or even spell or write. Now we have to listen to it all day long from their parents, who unfortunately have also forgotten how to speak, spell, and write. Stop the insanity!
Sincerely,
Don’t Want to be Hip
Dear DWTBH,
Sorry. I couldn’t resist! I have heard many of these acronyms flying around over the last ten years or so. It seems that kids under the age of twenty cannot speak on the phone anymore either. Apparently they can only text or e-mail now, and most of the time they prefer to do this while driving! That is why we now have laws that prohibit such activities. I am not sure why these abbreviations or acronyms have become so popular. When I was a young man in the Army, there were a whole slew of acronyms that we had to learn. There was actually a class just for that! We were expected to know that OCS stood for “Officer Candidate School,” that DFAC meant “Dining Facilities Administration Center,” and that GI stood for “Government Issue.” Now, some of the fellas would poke fun with the other branches and make up new acronyms too. One guy saw a group of Marines walking by and joked that Marine stood for “Math And Reading Is Not Essential.” Those Marines were pretty quick with their comeback. They retorted that Army meant “Aren’t Really Men Yet.” So, you can see that this is not a new thing at all; it’s been going on for as long as I can remember. Now, what is sort of new is how these kids come up with stuff and expect us adults to know what they mean. For instance, the other day my poor cousin Christine, who is in her late sixties, sent all of us first cousins an e-mail to tell us that her 89-year-old mother had recently fallen and broken her hip. She said in her letter, “Mama tripped over her little dog Trixie and fell down a whole flight of stairs. Keep her in your prayers. LOL.” I immediately called Christine and said, “Just so I am clear on this, what exactly does LOL mean?” She replied, “Oh honey, it means ‘Lots of Love,’ of course!” I thought that maybe I should tell her it also means “Laugh Out Loud,” but being who I am, I told her she should use the more popular ROFL which means “Really Outstanding Faithful Love.” She thanked me profusely and said she would be sure to use that acronym several times in her future updates. So, I guess I would advise you to either grin and bear it, or do as I have, and have fun with it. I still make up new acronyms every time I e-mail my grandkids. It drives them crazy! Sometimes I’ll be creative and put things like IKWYGFC. They’ll complain, “That doesn’t mean anything!” I simply tell them it meant “I know what you’re getting for Christmas!” Other times, I just jumble up letters – like QZU – that cannot possibly mean anything. Those poor kids will try for hours to decipher it! After a while, I use my favorite line and say, “Maybe when you’re older, you’ll understand!” All in all, acronyms do save time, space, and energy. So, I hope this helps and that you find a way to look for humor in all things. Write again soon.
Sincerely,
DC (Hee Hee)
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