I remember, in a slightly slower world, when abbreviations were unusual enough that they stood out and we knew what they stood for. Most were written with periods (F.B.I.), as each letter was pronounced. As the pace of life increased, more and more shortcuts appeared. Some abbreviations began to be written without periods. Some words were combined into portmanteaus (breakfast + lunch = brunch; Labrador retriever + poodle = labradoodle; smoke + fog = smog; motor + hotel = motel). Others were shortened: condo for condominium (embarrassing side note: when condominiums first became popular, I thought the short form was cond*m!).
Many words developed into short forms that are nearly always used in informal speech or writing (bike/bicycle, flu/influenza, fridge/refrigerator, vet/veterinarian, ad/advertisement, advertising.
An abbreviation is any shortened form of a word or phrase. An acronym is a specific type of abbreviation formed from the first letters of a phrase and pronounced as a word (e.g., NASA, LASER). Note: While all acronyms are abbreviations, not all abbreviations are acronyms; some are initialisms (pronounced as letters, e.g., FBI).
Some phrases were shortened into acronyms and pronounced as words: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Scuba (earlier, SCUBA) (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus); LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
With the advent of texting, a whole new language developed – and it can be hard to keep up!
As I mulled over these changes in language and usage, I thought it might be worthwhile to share some of the ore common ones, along with their long form. In our haste, we may use them so automatically that we lose sight of their actual meaning. So take your time and peruse the definitions, just for a brief refresher. I hope you find some of these tidbits as interesting as I did.
Stylistically, I find it jarring when someone takes the time to write detailed comments online, utilizing lengthy words like inappropriate, unacceptable, or unmissable or unputdownable, yet can’t take the extra few seconds to write out see, you, and, at, or be instead of c, u, &, @, or b).
TIP: the full name or word should be used at first mention.
What follows is in semi-random order. The items have come up in my recent work or reading — and one thought led to another. The list is far from complete, but I had to stop somewhere!
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Federal” refers to the national government of the United States. “Bureau” is another word for department or division of government. “Investigation” is what we do—gathering facts and evidence to solve and prevent crimes. –fbi.gov
A.F.L.-C.I.O. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO, generally not written with periods today) is the largest federation of unions in the United States, representing nearly 15 million active and retired workers. It advocates for better wages, safety, and legislative protection for workers. It functions as a democratic federation of 65 national and international unions. -AFL-CIO +3
I.L.G.W.U. The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was a labor union for employees in the women's clothing industry in the United States. It was one of the largest unions in the country, one of the first to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union, generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG", merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in the 1990s to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to become UNITE HERE.[1] The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.
ACLU American Civil Liberties Union The ACLU has been at the center of nearly every major civil liberties battle in the U.S. for more than 100 years.
GOAT Greatest of All Time
EGOT Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony
The ultimate achievement in Hollywood. Only won thus far by 22 people, including Achieving an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT) is a feat so difficult that only 22 stars have earned it. Among them are Rita Moreno, Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Elton John, John Legend, and, most recently, Steven Spielberg. There's also one person, Robert Lopez, who is a double EGOT winner and the youngest celebrity ever to win all four awards. –Business Insider
THR The Hollywood Reporter
BTS South Korean boy band
LBD Little Black Dress
App Application (“there’s an app for that”); appetizer
IP Internet Protocol; Intellectual Property
MSNBC, MS NOW
Historically, MSNBC stood for Microsoft and National Broadcasting Company. Established in 1996 as a joint venture, the name combined Microsoft ("MS") and NBC. However, as of late 2025, the channel [rebranded] to MS NOW, which stands for "My Source for News, Opinion and the World," following a split from NBCUniversal. –AI, Wikipedia
LLM In writing, stands for Large Language Model, a type of AI trained on vast data to understand, generate, and summarize human-like text, such as in ChatGPT or Claude. They predict the next word in a sequence to create coherent content, including writing essays, coding, and translating.
—Cloudflare +3
HBCU Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 107 accredited institutions established before 1964 to provide higher education to Black Americans. Primarily located in the South.
ROTC, JROTC Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, a college-based program that trains students to become commissioned officers in the U.S. Armed Forces while earning a degree. —AI,Today's Military +4
Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (high school) a military-regulated, elective character-development program in high schools designed to teach leadership, citizenship, and personal responsibility. —usarmyjrotc (.mil) +3
PDA Public Display of Affection; Personal Digital Assistant (Blueberry)
V&A Victoria and Albert Museum, England
AI Artificial Intelligence (also looks like the name Al in sans serif font)
AOL American Online
⁕ Texting
AF As F**k (an intensifier; extremely, very) “tired af,” “hungry af,” “mad af” –AI, Gabb + 4
AFK away from keyboard
BRB Be right back
AITA Am I the A**-Hole
WTF what the f**k
FOMO Fear of Missing Out
FWIW For what it’s worth
IKR I know, right?
IRL In real life
IYKYK If you know, you know
ICYMI In case you missed it
IMO, INMO In my opinion; in my humble opinion
LMK let me know
LOL Laughing out loud
OG Original Gangster—someone who has been present from the beginning, a respected veteran, or something that is authentic and "old-school"; highly respected, experienced, or influential
OTW, OMW On the way; on my way
ROTFLMAO Rolling on the floor, laughing my a** off
SMH Shaking my head
TSA Transportation Security Administration
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
TRO Temporary Restraining Order
ICE Immigration & Customs Enforcement
PTA Parent-Teacher Association
NEA National Education Association
UFW United Farm Workers
Chat GPT GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer and is a family of neural network models that analyze data and interpret and produce human-like text, images, and sounds. People and organizations use GPT to summarize long text and meetings, translate languages, create written communication, write code, generate images, and answer questions in a conversational tone. — https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/cloud-computing-dictionary/what-is-gpt
FOO Family of Origin
PS Postscript
PPS Post-Postscript
PSS Sub-Postscript
CYA Cover Your Ass (taking actions to protect oneself from future criticism, blame, or legal liability, typically in a workplace or professional context.-AI); also California Youth Authority
AYK Are You Kidding? Every talent coordinator has an AYK list. When the producer says, “Can you get me Streisand or Bezos or Beyoncé for an interview?” the talent coordinator says, “Are you kidding?”
IQ Intelligent quotient a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. —Wikipedia
QR Code
A QR code, short for quick-response code,[1] is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode invented in 1994 for labelling automobile parts.[2][3] It features white and black squares within a square grid …Whereas a barcode is a machine-readable optical image that contains information specific to the labeled item, the QR code contains the data for a locator, an identifier, and web tracking. –Wikipedia
GED General Educational Development
a series of four subject tests—mathematical reasoning, science, social studies, and language arts—that, when passed, certify that the test-taker has high school-level academic knowledge, equivalent to a traditional high school diploma. -AI
SAT [A] globally recognized standardized test used for college admissions in the United States, administered by the College Board. It measures reading, writing, and math skills acquired in high school, totaling 1600 points. While it once stood for "Scholastic Aptitude Test," the initials currently stand for nothing. … Evaluates college readiness and provides a uniform metric for admissions offices to compare applicants. --AI
LSAT Law School Admission Test
Short, long, periods, no periods – language is constantly changing and evolving, and we change along with it.
Flo Selfman, “the lady with the red pen,” is a copy editor-proofreader and PR consultant for award-winning books, both fiction and nonfiction, in several genres. She was president of the Independent Writers of Southern California for a dozen years, stepping down in 2016. Winner of the Honorary Achievement Award from The BookFest (Spring 2023). Flo is working on a collection of stories and can often be found exploring SoCalif, camera in hand.
