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Social media has become the eighth planet in the world, a digital planet. That is the opinion of Pope Francis which isn’t far from the truth. Social media have also been referred to as the fourth pillar of democracy. Every new day, new lifestyles evolve on this space and if you aren’t informed, you will get lost.
While we are familiar with lots of acronyms of expression which is becoming the lingua Franca of social media like “lol, lmao, lolz” and so on, there are acronyms you may never have used but it has become common for some people.
- ICYMI – ‘In case you missed it’. You know those times you want to throw back a post or you want to write a follow-up post but also want to get people’s attention back to the previous post, instead of writing “in case you missed it” you can now use a simple acronym ICYMI. This has also gained entry into the modern dictionaries.
- GOAT – “Greatest Of All Time”. Thanks to Messi and Ronaldo fans. The first time you heard this on social media, you may have been confused. Personally, the first time I saw it, I thought it was a kind of mockery. But hey, what used to be mockery has now become a kind of praise! The big argument on social media remains, between Lionel Messi and Christiana Ronaldo, who is GOAT?
G.O.A.T was first used by Lonnie Ali in 1992 when she consolidated her husband’s intellectual properties for commercial reasons. Who is Lonnie Ali? She is the wife of the legendary Muhammad Ali.
- MCE/WCE – “Man / Woman Crush Everyday”. You probably know about MCM which means Man Crush Monday and WCW which means Woman Crush Wednesday. But what you may not have been familiar with is MCE and WCE of which “E” stands for every day. I guess I’d like to be someone’s MCE than MCM. I don’t want to be admired on Monday and left alone other days. Do you?
- ASAP – “As Soon As Possible”. This is as old as the ages past but unfortunately, many people are still not aware of what it means. ASAP is no longer considered informal by the majority of people including corporate organizations. It has become more of a business term and was first recorded among the American Army between 1990-1995 as one of their military jargon.
- BAE – “Before Anyone Else”. I bet you’ve always thought BAE is the short form of Baby but that’s not likely. It used to be but social media folks no longer think so. For many people, it means “Before Anyone Else”. Now, be truthful to yourself, is your BAE truly the first before everyone else? So, BAE qualifies for an acronym and backronym. Do you know the meaning of backronym? I am sure you didn’t even know such a word exists.
- BTAIM – “Be that as it may”. I know you didn’t see this coming but next time you are leaving a comment or chatting with someone, you may want to save yourself the stress of long typing.
- IDK – “I don’t know!” When next someone asks you something on the social media and you don’t know, a simple IDK will do. This has been in use since 2002 when SMS was king!
- HTH – “Here to help or happy to help”. When you want to offer encouragement to someone and you are aware they know social media acronyms, then HTH would save the stress! It also means “hope that helps”.
- JK – “Just kidding”. Have you tried playing around on social media and someone didn’t catch the fun? Some people find it hard to recognize sarcasm or when one is joking. If you notice he or she didn’t catch the joke, you may simply respond with “JK”. I guess the fun will start from there!
- FBF – “Flashback Friday”. You are already familiar with throwback Thursday and you’ve always thought Fridays are only for TGIF? Well, we would thank God it’s Friday using some flashbacks too! What’s going to be your FBF next week?
- TFW – “That feeling when…” This is always used when one wants to share an experience. You may write things like “TFW watching horror and movie the door closes by itself.”
There are many more acronyms! Do you know any? Comment here let’s educate ourselves.
Onyedikachukwu George Nnadozie is the creative director of Funtrick Technology, an author and a public speaker. Aside from his creative job at Funtrick Technology, he takes time to write on his personal blog, George’s Diary. He also founded FunIQ Skills Academy, an online learning platform where he teach Digital Skills.
