Get Back to the Basics

[db5]

WTFDTM?

Figure that one out. It’s time to get back to basics:

LMAO – means funny. Your ass is still on and you aren’t even laughing. Smiling or internally chuckling with no sound but LMAO - Not!

IMHO – means I think – and has noting to do with humility. Just state your opinion. You aren’t a teen-age texter and don’t need to adopt their jargon nor is any humility involved.
There are dozens of others I’ve run across but these two are the most prevalent and serve as prime examples.

Why have we adopted this meaningless Text-Speak?

Yes, I know it is designed to convey a message, which is not correct in simple terms, designed not to offend anyone and which requires fewer strokes (get there as fast as you can:eek: ). That could, and does have a double meaning. I just don’t have text shorthand for it.

[BuckeyeDennis]

WTFDTM?

Figure that one out. It’s time to get back to basics:

What The F#€£ Does That Mean?

My mother was a secretary for some Air Force bigshots back in the 50's. She actually knew proper shorthand. it looked like hieroglyphics (sp?) to me, but it definitely served a useful purpose, back when electronics still meant vacuum tubes.

So what's wrong with some using some more-or-less standardized acronyms to speed the typing process?

[db5]

My mother was a secretary for some Air Force bigshots back in the 50's. She actually knew proper shorthand. it looked like hieroglyphics (sp?) to me, but it definitely served a useful purpose, back when electronics still meant vacuum tubes.

So what's wrong with some using some more-or-less standardized acronyms to speed the typing process?

Thank you for confirming what I was trying to convey. Your mother used shorthand to exactly convey what the thought was , said and was intended. She had to be exact. No LAMAO for something less thoughtful nor less meaningful. Mama woulda been outa there. She was better trained in accuracy than some of her offspring (IMHO ). That was the point of this and thank you for your Humble contribution. It was Humble I assume?

[forrestb]

but please don't make me give up SWMBO - I have to live with her!
Forrest

[db5]

Well, I blew that last response. My apologies to the poster and to all. The point was well made that his mother used shorthand and I ignored that. If anyone wants to spend the days and months and money learning that skill (which is no longer valued) then have at it. It took great dedication, intelligence and perseverance. It took months for her to become skilled and many more to become regularly employed. She was ahead of her time and should be lauded for her perseverance. In the 1960s colleges offered undergraduate degrees in Secretarial Science where one could learn such skills. That was a four year BA program.

My reply was not to malign his response nor his mother but the fact that she spent hours, days, weeks and months learning her skill and we have adopted the LMAO shorthand from texters who have no way of really communicating.

When our language is reduced to texting, e.g., LMAO, WTF, and others.

FYI (For Your Information) I worked for the first Digital Wireless Company that introduced Text Messaging (known as SMS - Short Message Service). One of my jobs was to position this new service so that the sales people could sell it and train them through my training department. My thoughts were that this was a nightmare that would create all sorts of problems. Sell it we did and Texting has become a bane of drivers and parents who are concerned for the safety of themselves and their children. But who cares? The wireless carriers still get their profits.

So, if you want to know about what texting is about and what some of the "stuff" (they are not acronyms) means, look at this:

http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php

This may be where the American Language is heading - not shorthand but Texting.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Thank you for confirming what I was trying to convey. Your mother used shorthand to exactly convey what the thought was , said and was intended. She had to be exact. No LAMAO for something less thoughtful nor less meaningful. Mama woulda been outa there. She was better trained in accuracy than some of her offspring (IMHO ). That was the point of this and thank you for your Humble contribution. It was Humble I assume?

Dang, I've barely recuperated from the recent excitement of crossing pens (keyboards? touchscreens?) online with a lawyer, and now I have to go at it with a Psychologist?!

I hereby confess to no greater knowledge of proper shorthand than already conveyed. As to accuracy, let me assure you that we engineers are pretty good at that. To the point of driving regular folks nuts. Only computer programmers, to my knowledge, need to be more precise. I know this because I earned a living programming robots for a few years, back when I was a young pup. One single punctuation mark out of place, and nothing works. Or worse.

But enough (arrogant) BS about me. This thread seems to be about acronyms, shorthand, and strangely enough, my mom.

A couple years ago, after a long painful struggle with Alzheimers, my mom passed away. It fell upon me to go through all the old photos and put together a slide show for the memorial service.

Well, let me tell ya .. the writers of "Mad Men" didn't dream all that stuff up out of thin air. Exhibit A: My future mom, as well as the future moms of several childhood buddies, competing in a swimsuit competition at Arnold Air Force Station, circa 1950. 8x10 glossy B&W, with a big "Official USAF Photo" stamp on the back of the print. This one my mom had squirreled away, hidden, behind some innocuous photo in the album.

Exhibit B: photo of my Mom, wearing a tight sweater, heavy makeup, and a big smile, leaning over a vintage desk holding a folder stamped "Top Secret" in big grey letters .. and I've gotta believe that they were red in real life. Another official USAF photo.

So did I include those photos in the slide show for the memorial service? You bet I did .. those suckers were real. LMAO!

[rjent]

Well if I may add my .02 <- is that allowed? .... I WAS a programmer for over 30 years. Worked free lance with my own company (which means I had to prove every day I knew what I was doing) and started my career in assembly and early languages for the C/PM OS <- am I allowed that LOL OMG, I find I can't communicate with TLA's or FLA's. What ARE we going to do ..... we are doomed!!!!

[BigSky]

db5...let me be blunt while using no acronyms that you don't understand.

Rather than posting some of the BS that you do post here, do you do any wood working that could be discussed here on this wood working forum?

[JPG]

WTFDTM?

Figure that one out. It’s time to get back to basics:

LMAO – means funny. Your ass is still on and you aren’t even laughing. Smiling or internally chuckling with no sound but LMAO - Not!

IMHO – means I think – and has noting to do with humility. Just state your opinion. You aren’t a teen-age texter and don’t need to adopt their jargon nor is any humility involved.
There are dozens of others I’ve run across but these two are the most prevalent and serve as prime examples.

Why have we adopted this meaningless Text-Speak?

Yes, I know it is designed to convey a message, which is not correct in simple terms, designed not to offend anyone and which requires fewer strokes (get there as fast as you can:eek: ). That could, and does have a double meaning. I just don’t have text shorthand for it.

SBI Figger that one out. Knowledge of context necessary.


You ignored LOL!;)


Me guilty fer sure!!!

[swampgator]

Did programming, self taught, for 10 years in Foxbase, dBase II, III+, VBA for Microsoft Access, VB 5, TSQL (don't remember the T, the rest is Structured Query Language), Basic, QBasic. In 2003 when I retired, the languages were changing so fast, I was thankful to retire. If you were ever around the USNavy, acronyms were a large part of the dialect. If you could not keep up with acronyms, you were basically put in a corner and someone else was sought to perform. This was in the 1960's. As an Aviation Storekeeper, most of our follow up messages were:

Msg 1 AF1 EDA is 4180 IAW OPNAV 3790

Interpretation: Msg= Message
AF1 = Action Followup 1 representing the number of times you've requeste followup
EDA= Estimated date of arrival
4180= 2014, 180th day of the year (about June 1)
IAW = In accordance with
OpNav= Operations Navy
3790 was a 3 volume manual to give direction on processing on maintenance and meterials.

That's just a tip of what we did. And, we wonder why young people do this in texting or other communication. We taught them by example.

As a 10th generation southern Protestant American, I'll talk the way I choose. You can do the same as an American.