TL;DR: If your work emails have become an alphabet soup of mysterious abbreviations, you’re not alone.
FWIW, if WOM hasn’t made you an SME in the jargon, ask WIIFM and maybe WFH for a quote.
Or, in plain English: For what it’s worth, if oral speech hasn’t made you a subject matter expert in jargon, ask ‘what’s in it for me’ and maybe work from home to break it.
And TL;DR means ‘too long, don’t read’, but it has also come to indicate a summary of the text for those who can’t commit to reading it in full.
But don’t worry if you’re confused by all the abbreviations because a new survey of 2,000 office workers found that one in five don’t recognize any of the abbreviations presented to them.
Perhaps as expected, the older Baby Boomer generation was the most confused by the short forms. Perhaps more surprising is that younger Generation Z employees were just as in the dark as those over the age of 55.
About a quarter of 18-24 year olds can’t understand jargon, as can people aged 55 to 64. Meanwhile, only 15 percent of 35-44 year olds were surprised, but 41 percent of people over 65 were surprised.
The most recognizable abbreviation for ‘week starting’ was W/C, while the least understood terms were WIIFM and NRN, which only three percent of people could understand.
The survey was conducted by flexible office provider Landmark.
Its chief customer officer Sam Marden said: ‘We often hear and see the use of abbreviations throughout the workplace, but the use of abbreviations and their primary meaning can vary between offices, workplaces, industries and even departments. For the word lovers among us, acronyms can streamline and speed up conversations and communications with coworkers.
‘Still others may find themselves surrounded by unfamiliar jargon, which can inadvertently lead to confusion or miscommunication.’
More than half of the respondents believed that acronyms can sometimes cause confusion, while almost a quarter believed that it wasted time and ten percent believed that it excluded some people. It is felt. Only one in ten felt that a shared language promoted team spirit.
So, how well do you know your abbreviations? Take The Mail on Sunday quiz to find out…