Acronyms and stuff

I thought it was lots of love for a long time, too.

At work I find it funny when I ask people what acronyms they use mean, and they can't tell me. It lowers the importance of their message. Often the acronym takes longer to say than the term they are 'summarising' so I think the reason people use them is to create their own tribal language.

I use a few emoji's because it seems expected, I use the rolling on the floor laughing if I think something is supposed to be funny even if it doesn't make me laugh, I use weather emojis to describe the weather, thumb up when I agree but too tired to type a reply, and a purple heart for things other people say I like. I mostly ignore the emoji's people send to me as they are too small and hard to read.

IDK about acronyms but I struggle to understand neurotypical communication - lol!

(My great aunt - who I think was autistic - once wrote 'lol' in response to someone passing away because she thought it meant 'lots of love'!)

I find it even worse when it's in things like cards or emails, not only do I not understand it, but it feels lazy and disrespectful.

I wonder how long it will be before people forget how to write with a pen and paper? Civilisation would collapse without the ability to read and write, or do the basic maths that's done in primary school. All it would take is for satellites to get knocked out.

I find myself rolling my eyes and inwardly groaning with despair when I hear text-speak used in verbal conversations. If a person is amused by something and laughs, I fail to understand why they then feel the need to actually say 'Lol'.

I wonder the same thing too, especially when I hear people using them in normal speech, like "awks", how will people verbalise emoji's though? Or will all emotional and other contexts be lost?

Join STAMP - The Society for the Termination of Acronyms in Medical Practice.

(Seen on a lavatory wall in King's Medical School c.1980)

Whilst there are some acronyms I am familiar with and understand, there are plenty that I find myself having to look up on the internet.

One thing I've noticed is that since smartphones became a thing, the use of SMS 'text speak' has significantly increased. I appreciate that language is ever-evolving, but my fear is that a time will come when future generations will be incapable of stringing a sentence together, unless it's been condensed into 'text speak'.

That's really made me chuckle, next time my phone does that with a message I'll reply saying "thanks, I'll take stock"

Bunny, thanks but my computer skills arn't up to what you suggest, I really am crap with computers, theres almost no begining to my skills!

Autisician I don't think I have anything that does emoji's, I've certainly never used one and tend to ignore ones sent to me as I can't see them, I just decipher the text, but only a handful of people ever send me texts anyway. I'm still not entirely sure what a box followed by X means, it looks like oxo to me and I'm sure nobodies sending me stock cubes.

Oh, sorry! There are similar, built-in "zoom in" / "magnify" tools for desktop computers:

Windows: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/use-magnifier-to-make-things-on-the-screen-easier-to-see-414948ba-8b1c-d3bd-8615-0e5e32204198#WindowsVersion=Windows_10

Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchl779716b8/mac

Many people here use acronyms and initialisms for medical conditions, educational services and types of social benefits that are entirely meaningless to me. I either have to ignore the post or do an internet search to find what the initials stand for, it is a bit wearying.

They can be useful if you're sending a message and want to convey the spirit it was as meant in, but I only really understand the basic and obvious ones, like a laughing or winking face, which is useful to point out sarcasm or joking when I send a message, to avoid it being taken seriously, which would be the case quite often as I have quite a dry sense of humour.

Sometimes there are same acronyms for different conditions. Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) Sensory processing disorder also (SPD) 

Thanks Bunny but that all went right over my head, I have a desk top computer with an independent keyboard and monitor and thats it.

I've had the same problem previously (not being able to make out what various emojis are)!

There's a useful and pretty convenient "zoom in" feature for iOS (Apple) and Android devices that you can use to help with that:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph3e2e367e/ios#:~:text=Double%2Dtap%20the%20screen%20with,then%20drag%20up%20or%20down.

https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/6006949?hl=en-GB#zippy=%2Cfull-screen-magnification-zoom-in-and-make-everything-bigger

I've also taken screenshots and then zoomed in on those manually within the Photos app. It's a more long-winded process, but helpful when I'm really struggling to see what something is.

Emoji's really do my head in, I don't only not understand what they mean, but I can't even see most of them, I just can't make out what they're supposed to be, let alone things like aubergenes!

IMHO, IDK...LOL

Seriously though, I Google quite a few myself, I know quite a few but often get texts from my teenage daughters and have to do a quick Google search to figure out what they mean!

I do struggle when people use acronyms for long medical conditions. I would find it much easier if the full terms were used the first time in a post and then abbreviated afterwards. TTFN.