# What words do you always abbreviate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528 "2006-05-05T13:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/21 "2006-05-06T03:02:47Z")
info gunna wanna 'nuf e-me cuz ---
**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/22 "2006-05-06T10:54:01Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Lots and lots from military service: **gabriela** , I thought DRT was supposed to mean Deep Recon Teams. (Which, granted, do have a distressing tendency to end up Daid Raht Thair.) [/QUOTE] Maybe that’s where we got it from. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/23 "2006-05-06T11:50:50Z")
tho- though thru- through gona- gonna/going to pics- pictures Lots more, but they are the more usual ones. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/24 "2006-05-06T12:11:24Z")
oll korrect mister saint in city names et alia et cetera ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/25 "2006-05-08T13:47:59Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] the triangle meaning change I believe is a relic of HS chemistry. [/QUOTE] I think mine is from Math or Econ, but now these consultants will say “What’s the delta?” meaning something a lot more amorphous than an actual number. :rolleyes: Another one I use is the symbol π for “profit”. > [@PapSett](#): > > thru- through Thanks for referring to this in this way. So often “thru” is considered a word and not an abbreviation, kind of like “donut”. I know, they are both in the dictionary, but I can still hold out!! Wow, I learned something new. I had never heard the term “olicook” for a doughnut before! ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/26 "2006-05-08T18:27:22Z")
Let me flip open my notebook … I use the following: re. regarding vs. versus @ at ~ approximately & and w/ with w/o without mtg meeting ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/27 "2006-05-08T23:21:37Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] I’m curious why AskNott writes about brake lights, republicans and fried chicken. (Isn’t GBD an Alton Brownism?) [/quote] I worked in an auto lighting plant. When the government required center high mount stop lamps, we stumbled around with that lumpy phrase and spelling out CHMSL before settling on chimsull. I’m a Democrat, and it always slightly irked me that the Republicans had that self-flattering abbreviation, GOP, but we didn’t have one. I’m an Alton Brown fan, and he often uses GB&D on his show and in his books. It’s a quick way of saying “cooked just right.” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/28 "2006-05-08T23:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=bup] oll korrect mister saint in city names et alia et cetera [/QUOTE] That is my complete list as well. I am so freaking lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/29 "2006-05-09T01:20:13Z")
The one that’s been most common for me lately is NAK. Nursing at Keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/30 "2006-05-09T01:35:22Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] appx. - Approximate(ly). [/QUOTE] approx=approximated as in “wound edges well approximated” d/c= discontinued w/c= wheelchair c with a line over it= with s with a line over it = without I chart on surgical wounds a lot Cyn, OB/GYN RN ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/31 "2006-05-09T01:43:46Z")
b/c = because ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/32 "2006-05-09T07:34:54Z")
Fud? = “Wanna join me for lunch/snack/food?” mtg = meeting AFK = away from kbd kbd = keyboard brb = be right back w/ = with vs = versus info = information docs = documentation pwd = password Work-specific abbreviations, enough to choke a bull with. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/33 "2006-05-10T05:45:46Z")
I often abbreviate lx (linguistics), lg (language), lxic (linguistic), trx (translation), trxr (translator). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/34 "2006-05-10T20:55:55Z")
Do you count, say, Mr. and Mrs., or Ph.D.? There’s a lot of professional ones I use - OPAC, ILS, MLIS, OCLC, MARC, etc. Oh, and ‘etc.’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528/35 "2006-05-10T20:56:38Z")
I use BRB, OMG, WTF, and TMI. I never say LOL, though, unless I’m being sarcastic to someone who just made a horrible joke, and I’ll go way overboard like this: “omg u referred 2 farting lol i get it thats y itz funny lolzzzzzz.” Note: Yes, I do think farting can be funny, I just needed to make up an example quickly. 😛 Also, I’m on another message board (shock horror!), and it’s mostly about soap and bath products, so we abbreviate product names and such like: BPAL - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (perfume company) HIWTK - Honey, I Washed The Kids (soap) METTR - Middle Earth Turns To Rock (soap) AOBS - Angels On Bare Skin (cleanser) AC - American Cream (conditioner) SU - Silky Underwear (powder) Etc., etc., etc. That’s another abbreviation I use. I almost never write out et cetera. (And yes, I do have an obsession with how I smell.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-always-abbreviate/355528.md?page=1)