Revising: Computer Lingo & Email Acronyms

Remember when you are revising a document, before you begin your revision to give the document time to breathe and you time to separate your mind from what you just wrote. After the time has passed, then begin looking at your document with a critical eye. Revising your draft is one of the most important processes in writing.

While revising your document, it is important to keep in mind that depending on your audience it may not be appropriate to use computer lingo and email acronyms. Remember that any abbreviations used should be well known by the reader. If it is an acronym that you will use frequently throughout the document, you should define the acronym in the beginning and then it is appropriate to use the acronym. You must consider your audience and how well they will understand your purpose. Too many acronyms may very well lose the reader’s focus on the purpose of the document. When using acronyms in your writings within a company, there are well-known lingo and acronyms that are used and do not need to be defined for those within the organization. If you are creating a document or revising a document, be sure one of your checklist questions is “Will this document go beyond the company’s walls?”

Check out this list of acronyms and lingo used daily.
The List of Chat Acronyms & Text Message Shorthand

Common Acronyms Translated
BTW – By The Way
TTYL – Talk To You Later – OR – Type To You Later
FYI – For Your Information
IMHO – In My Humble Opinion
LOL – Laughing Out Loud – OR – Lots Of Love
ROTFL – Rolling On The Floor Laughing

Another commonly used computer lingo is Emoticons. Emoticons are symbols that represent feelings or emotions that are used in text messaging and email. Emoticons are not appropriate for professional or business documents. For a list of Emoticons, please click on this link: Smileys and Emoticons