Common Sense Ideas for Becoming the Career Star You Are Meant to Be

Today is Thursday, so this post is on communication skills. 

Career and life stars have three mastered three skills:

1. They are good conversationalists.
2. They write well and clearly.
3. 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.