Today is Thursday, so this post is on communication skills.
Career and life stars have three mastered three skills:
- They are good conversationalists.
- They write well and clearly.
- They have good presentation skills.
E mail falls under point 2 – clear writing. An article in the May 2007 issue of Laptop Magazine listed 10 slang expressions to avoid in your e mails.
- CUL8R
- GAL
- IDK
- KIT
- LMAO
- NIFC
- NMU
- ROFL
- TTYL
- W/E
I could figure out a few of these, but not all of them. It’s interesting, because on May 22, I did a post on my www.CommonSenseGuy.com blog called Generations at Work – Important Differences of Much Ado About Nothing? In that post, I argued that people are pretty much people, and that your age has little to do with what you want out of life.
As I read this list however, I began to think that maybe I was wrong – at least on computer jargon. Old guys like me often can’t decipher computer newspeak (to update a term from George Orwell). But I’m sure that most young people – especially those who text message a lot – get it. So maybe this is a generational issue, and young people think it is perfectly acceptable to use the expressions on the above list in e mail correspondence.
Am I right? Am I wrong? Are abbreviations of the type listed above OK for business e mail or not? I come out on the common sense side of things. If you are communicating with someone who gets it – then go ahead and use these abbreviations. If you are communicating up the line – you might want to thing twice about using computer newspeak.
That’s my opinion on this one – what’s yours?
By the way, in case you’re wondering, here is the code to the expressions listed above.
- CUL8R -- See you later.
- GAL -- Get a life.
- IDK -- I don’t know.
- KIT -- Keep in touch.
- LMAO -- Laughing my ass off.
- NIFC -- Naked in front of the computer.
- NMU -- Not much, you?
- ROFL -- Rolling on the floor laughing
- TTYL -- Talk to you later
- W/E -- Whatever…
BTW, I am not NIFC. Are you ROFL? CUL8R. KIT.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
Comment Preview