Acronymically speaking (and writing)!

A young friend, son of an old friend, posted this on Facebook: 

“TFW you go to the allotment and your friend is already waiting for you. No I don’t have any idea how she managed to get in the greenhouse!”

It was accompanied by a picture of a bird, maybe a thrush, inside his greenhouse. 

His mother, the old friend, commented this:

“Tell Dill I had to Google what TFW meant, she’ll be either amused or despairing!” 

Dill is the young friend’s twelve year old daughter, by the way (btw). 

I replied to my old friend’s comment, “So did I!” Then I noticed that another old friend had done the same. TFW (that feeling when) you realise that you’re out of touch with the acronyms (aka Initialisms) of the day. It’s a generational thing! 

Really we should differentiate between acronyms proper and initialisms. I worked for years and years in MFL (Modern Foreign Language) teaching but M F L was always a collection of letters, never a word. Hunting for examples of this sort of thing  (which I had to do because my mind went blank once I tried to list them for myself) I discovered that “scuba”, which we always think of as a word in its own right, comes from "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus."

Some we use all the time and have been using for ever, even people like my old friend and me, such as ASAP. Others we have learnt in more recent media-savvy, text-messaging times: TBH - to be honest, FOMO - fear of missing out, LOL - laugh out loud, BTW - by the way. Some I just plain won’t use: IDK - I don’t know, IMO - in my opinion, LMK - let me know. TBH, I don’t use LOL at all and some of the others only very rarely! 

The one I find most annoying is just one letter: V for versus. I have no objection to written announcements about football matches- United v City. But I find it really annoying when commentators and pundits on Match of the Day (MotD) talk about players going one v one. For some reason it makes my hackles rise. Once again, it’s probably a generational thing!

  And then there is TED- Tell me, Explain to me, Describe to me - which has puzzled me every time I have heard someone refer to a TED talk! 

And finally, we have one of our very own: IADH. When we walk up the hill to Dobcross there comes a point where we know we have reached the highest point and one of is is bound to give a cheer and declare IADH - It’s All Down Hill! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!