The numbers on a telephone have long been associated with letters of the alphabet, but until relatively recently those letters couldn’t be used to send non-verbal communication over the phone lines. For that matter, it wasn’t all that long ago that phone lines even stopped being required! These days millions of messages are sent, or texted (a neologism added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004), every day. Texting has joined e-mailing as the primary means of communication, and one that gets information from one person to another much more quickly.

Part of the quickness of these electronic communications comes from the abbreviations used by people to shorten their typing or texting time. Many of these abbreviations are initialisms (see this post for more information about this special category of words). Here are some of the “text-speak” abbreviations or initialisms that are now officially part of the English language:

OMG – oh my god or oh my gosh

BFF – best friends forever

LOL – laughing out loud

IMHO – in my humble opinion

TMI – too much information

While these initialisms are good ways to speed up and shorten your text messages, be careful that you don’t let your use of abbreviated words affect your ability to use and spell them correctly. You might be able to send a quick text to a friend saying, “did u like that video? LOL!” but if you send an e-mail to your boss with the message, “Ur jokes sure had the client laffing out loud today!” you won’t be impressing her with your verbal skills, even if she appreciates the compliment.

We think it’s impossible to have too much information about the continuing evolution of the English language! Keep your eyes open for new words around you, and you’ll be sure to keep up with all of the latest trends in communication.