ABBREVIATION: MISUSE AND ITS SIDE EFFECTS

We are in a generation where things are done quickly; nobody wants to be left out or behind. We prefer the shortcut; of course, it is interesting but dicey, and it gets things done in no time. Maybe, it’s becoming an epidemic whilst it has taken long for individuals to let go. 

 

Imagine trying to meet up with the 79 SMS character space limit or the 250 character space limit of twitter. How do you cope? You are keen to express yourself the way it is coming from your mind, the emotions and enthusiasm of writing and trying to prove your point. You want to try to put all your words in 1 page (as in the case of SMS) or post a tweet without the limitation of the character indicator.

We are not ignorant of the effect, yet, we can’t stop it. It’s there! It has been. It will continue. We don’t have an option. We feel it’s not right but we can’t help it. We cannot stop it. It’s an everyday thing, an easy-going social mantra. A life-saver. In as much as we find it helpful, the abuse and proliferation of abbreviated words has really caused more harm than good to us. These days we come up with anything and make it an abbreviated word.

Mindful? I doubt. When writing, we just let it out and express ourselves without taking into cognizance the other person at the receiving end. The receiver, the reader. We type it the way we feel, how our emotion and mind is stationed at the point; we wave our hands and Oh yes! It’s done!  I can now breathe and wait for the reply. With joy and eagerness, we press the send/tweet button.

Many a times, we send messages to people but they don’t seem to understand what they received. There are stages when writing it comes to a point you don’t need an abbreviation; spell it the way it is. We have abbreviated words to the extent they lose their intended meaning. If need be, there are generally accepted trendy abbreviations. Make meanings with them explicitly in your write-ups and create a platform for understanding for your reader/receiver. 

I was listening to a radio station one evening and the presenter was complaining about a message sent by a listener. This message was sent on whatsapp. Whatsapp and limitation? NO. Write as much as you can. The presenter complained that the message they received was full of series of unnecessary abbreviations. They refused to read it. That's what you get after spending hours of your time trying to get heard by the public.
It is important to note that while they (presenters) on radio/TV are doing their presentations, they read whatever messages you send to them in real-time. They don’t have time to edit it. 

It is quite unfortunate how abbreviation has become a trendy addendum.

“HBD, WULLNP” 

This is a supposed: Happy Birthday, Wishing you long life and prosperity.
The funny thing about that write-up is: it doesn’t even consume up to 80 characters in full, yet it is shortened to the extent it becomes meaningless. Yes, we might argue that we are familiar with it, which is not far-fetched but take for instance a situation you are actually new to the phrase. What comes to mind? The social media trend is actually ruining our vocabulary.

Express yourself freely. We are in a stage where we are LIMITING ourselves to the usage of words even when the platform is free from character limitation. E.g. Facebook; characters required is actually enough to post whatever message we want. A situation where we manage words on platforms without ‘character limitation’ is actually mediocre and not only that, it shows how addictive you  have become.

Too much use of abbreviation will only limit you to choice of words, its usage, vocabulary and spelling. Most times, your SPELLING BECOMES TERRIBLE.  Knowingly or unknowingly, it is bound to happen.
In most cases, in the examination hall, we forget the actual spelling of a word. Writing essays become a huge mistake and a big deal.

‘&’ for AND
‘2’ for TWO
‘Pls’ for PLEASE
‘2geda’ for TOGETHER
‘bcom’ for BECOME
‘aite’ for ALRIGHT
‘K’ for OK
….. and that’s how you mess up your paper.

It does not end there; another negative aspect of misuse of abbreviation is MISPLACING WORDS with another.
‘Bit’ for BEAT
‘Kip’ for KEEP
‘Tank’ for THANK
‘Fyn’ for FINE etc.

It might not start now, it might not be visible but it is becoming a silent killer.

Other famously used abbreviations are:

RN: RIGHT NOW
IMO: IN MY OPINION
TBT: THROW BACK THURSDAY
TBVH: TO BE VERY HONEST
I C: I SEE
HBD: HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LMAO/LMFAO: LAUGHING MY A** OUT/ LAUGHING MY FREAKING A** OUT
LOL: LAUGHING OUT LOUD
ROTFLMAO:  ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING MY FREAKING A** OUT
TANK: THANK
BRB: BE RIGHT BACK
FYI: FOR YOUR INFORMATION
ICYMI: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
WTH/WTD/WTF: WHAT THE HECK/ WHAT TO DO/WHAT THE F**K
PLS: PLEASE
WAT: WHAT
CONT’D: CONTINUED
G2G: GOOD TO GO
WULLNP: WISHING YOU LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY
GUD: GOOD etc…

 Let's take a look at this regular abbreviation mantra.  CHRISTMAS usually spelt XMAS.

‘CHRISTMAS’ is NOT “X-MAS”. It loses its meaning when abbreviated.

Here is s breakdown;
X is ‘x’
MAS is ‘mas’.

CHRIST is pronounced ‘krist’ which is Christ, Christian.
MASS is pronounced ‘mas’ which is followership, fellowship.
CHRISTMAS means Christians celebrating Christ birthday. A fellowship/mass for Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Abbreviations are not acronyms. It is neither legal nor generally accepted. They are intentionally shortened words to suit the user's expression in cases of character limitations. It is a social-media trend, a word-quickie, a shortcut.

Abbreviations are excuse personified. Give it a reason. Give your reader/receiver reasons to justify your usage. Give them something to read, understand and accept.  Therefore, we should be mindful on how frequent we use abbreviated words.

Choose your abbreviated words wisely and don’t misuse them.


As written by Prince C. Williams

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