ABA Journal The digital English academy
Hey everyone! How are you?
According to official statistics, right now there are approximately 3.5 billion internet users in the world, almost half of the world’s population. With the internet comes social media and mobile devices, that enable us to connect any time anywhere to send messages, consult and share information etc. This has lead to the birth of new languages and ways to communicate over the internet: its own etiquette (or netiquette) when writing, emojis, memes, acronyms, abbreviations, etc.
Writing on tiny mobile devices is much more uncomfortable than using a keyboard, so we need to abbreviate words as much as possible, and some acronyms and abbreviations have become so popular that we have ended up incorporating them into our daily language, including languages other than English. Who hasn’t answered a funny Whatsapp message with a LOL?
I’m sure you have used it now and then, but do you know exactly what it and other popular acronyms mean?
LOL
This is one of the acronyms we use the most, to indicate laughter or when we find something funny. It comes from the initials of Laughing Out Loud. Some variations of this are ROTFL (Rolling On The Floor Laughing) or ROFLMAO, LMAO, LOLZ, LOOOOOOL (with extra oooooos for emphasis) etc.
For example:
OMG
These are the initials of Oh My God. It is used a lot, regardless of people’s religious beliefs, to express surprise, boredom, emotion etc.
SRLY
This is an abbreviation of the word seriously
For example:
GR8, H8, M8, R8
If you see a strange word made up of letters and an 8, have no fear. In lots of words containing the sound /eɪt/ this syllable is usually replaced with an 8. Like some of the following:
- M8 -> mate
- H8 -> hate
- GR8 -> great
- R8 -> rate
- L8R -> later
- SK8R -> skater
For example:
Wow, great job, mate!
IDK
This stands for I Don’t Know.
For
BAE
BAE has become popular in recent years as a synonym for girlfriend or boyfriend. It comes from the initials for Before Anyone Else and given to that special and important person in your life, usually your partner.
For example:
– Would you like to go to the cinema tonight?
– Sorry, I’m meeting my BAE.
– LOL, ok
These are but a few examples of the huge amount of acronyms you will find while browsing the internet, especially on forums and social media, where it’s not necessary to use language that is 100% perfect.
Keeping your English up-to-date is just as important as having a sufficient grammatical and lexical base to communicate fluidly. We would like to remind you that our 100% online English course covers from Beginners to Business level to suit your learning needs. Register for free and try out our Natural Method:
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Do you know any more acronyms of this kind? Let us know in the comments.
