Acronyms and Meanings

Hi everyone!

The Internet has always been a source of technology inspired slang.

Nowadays people prefer to use abbreviations to write e-mails and text messages as short forms of lengthy expressions.

Let’s see some of the most common acronyms in English:

     In Everyday Conversation

Written and verbal communication often includes these abbreviations:

• R.S.V.P. – This acronym means “Répondez s’il vous plait,” French for “respond, if you please.” It is often used on invitations to parties and special events, and is intended (as it says) to be responded to with a “yes, we will attend,” or “no, we will not.”
• P.S. – Means “post script.” At the end of a letter, people will often include a P.S. to include an extra thought that was intended to be included in the letter, but forgotten. Using a P.S. was more common in typewritten letters, when you couldn’t go back and add a sentence in the body of a letter.
• A.S.A.P. – “As soon as possible,” used when encouraging someone to respond to a request without delay.
• E.T.A. – This acronym means “estimated time of arrival,” and is used as a guess for when one expects to arrive while traveling.
• B.Y.O.B. – “Bring your own bottle” is used for parties where guests are expected to bring their own beverages.

• Abbreviations for Cooking and Baking

  Abbreviations are also necessary for measurements for cooking and baking – after all, your cake won’t come out very well if you don’t know the difference between:

  • tsp or t – teaspoon/teaspoons
  • tbs, tbsp or T – tablespoon/tablespoons
  • c – cup/cups
  • gal – gallon
  • lb – pound/pounds
  • pt – pint
  • qt – quart

  Map Locations

  If you want to find your way around, you better know location abbreviations such as:

  • Ave – avenue
  • Blvd – boulevard
  • Ln – lane
  • Rd – road
  • St – street

  Educational Degrees and Job Titles

  Abbreviations often show up in describing educational degrees and job titles. For example:

  • BA – Bachelor of Arts
  • BS – Bachelor of Science
  • MA – Master of Arts
  • M.PHIL or MPHIL – Master of Philosophy
  • JD – Juris Doctor
  • DC – Doctor of Chiropractic
  • PA – Personal Assistant
  • MD – Managing Director
  • VP – Vice President
  • SVP – Senior Vice President
  • EVP – Executive Vice President
  • CMO – Chief Marketing Officer
  • CFO – Chief Financial Officer
  • CEO – Chief Executive Officer
    

    Internet Chat

    The advent of the Internet has brought about a whole new range of abbreviations we may use in our daily life. Among these abbreviations, online chat has evolved and created a language of its own, made up almost entirely of abbreviations. For example:

    • LOL – laugh-out-loud
    • ROLF – rolling on the floor laughing
    • ACE  – a cool experience
    • AD – awesome dude
    • AFAIR – as far as I remember
    • AFK – away from keyboard
    • ANI – age not important
    • CUL – see you later
    • CWYL – chat with you later
    • IQ – intelligence quotient

         Understanding Latin-based Abbreviations

• Looking at Latin, the root of the English language, is a good way to decipher abbreviations. The most popular abbreviations that we use in our day to day life are derived from this ancient language. For example:
  • AM, which we use to denote morning, is an abbreviation for ante meridian, and PM stands for post meridian.
  • The era in which we live, AD, is actually an abbreviation for Anno Domini, or “The Year of Our Lord.”