True story: A woman whose co-worker’s mother had died texted her: “I’m sorry to hear about your mother’s passing. LOL. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

Turns out the woman thought LOL meant ‘Lots Of Love’. Ouch!

No doubt you’ve seen and used text acronyms. This cryptic looking code has grown rapidly on the Internet and has taken our social computer culture by storm. More than 82 million people are texting regularly today. Merriam-Webster has entries for LOL and OMG (Oh My God). The AP Stylebook includes IMO (In My Opinion), ROFL (Rolling On Floor Laughing) and BFF (Best Friends Forever).

Also referred to as online jargon, shorthand, initialisms and leetspeak, acronyms have become an integral part of our business culture as well, leaving amateur texters even more 404 about what experienced texters are talking about. (404 means clueless, and was derived from the Error 404 message on websites when a page cannot be found.)

New acronyms appear daily in the news and in the course of our business lives, and many busy professionals are taking aggressive steps to navigate the world of business jargon. Perhaps even you are guilty of looking over your kids’ shoulders to keep up with what’s being thumbed out on their mobile phones!

So, how texting-savvy are you? You probably know and use these 10 commonly used business acronyms quite frequently:

1. ASAP6. LOL
2. BRB7. MYOB
3. BTW8. RFP
4. EOD9. TBD
5. KISS10. TMI

1. As Soon As Possible2. Be Right Back3. By The Way4. End Of Day5. Keep It Simple Stupid6. Laughing Out Loud
7. Mind Your Own Business8. Request For Proposal9. To Be Determined10. Too Much Information

But do you know what these business acronyms mean?

1. DD8. RBTL
2. DRIB9. RFD
3. HIOOC10. STD
4. NWR11. UG2BK
5. OTP12. WIP
6. P&C13. WOMBAT
7. POV14. WTG

1. Due Diligence2. Don’t Read If Busy3. Help I’m Out Of Coffee4. Not Work Related5. On The Phone
6. Private & Confidential7. Point of View8. Read Between The Lines9. Request For Discussion10. Seal The Deal
11. You’ve Got To Be Kidding12. Work In Progress13. Waste of Money, Brains And Time14. Way To Go

As an aside, if you’re a parent, you might want to make sure you know what these teen-thumbing acronyms stand for:

1. 86. PAL
2. GNOC7. POS
3. IWSN8. RUH
4. J/O9. TDTM
5. MPFB10. WTF

The answers to the above teen-thumbing acronyms? Sorry, this Brief is G-Rated, but shoot me an email at jessica@thebretongroup.com and I’ll clue you in. For now, got to GBTW.

This entry was filed under Useful Info