Each week, many of our residents meet for Creative Writing Group with Lisa McKenzie. The class offers a creative outlet and the opportunity to flex their writing muscles.
This month, we’d like to highlight a humorous meditation, written by resident Phyllis Rubinstein, regarding social media acronyms.
For years I have accepted the jumble of letters indicating the days of the week that appeared on the calendar above the numbers of the month. These abbreviations of the days were a help for me. MON was short for Monday, and so on. I liked that. But then came Facebook and Twitter—and even more abbreviations.
LOL— means Laughing Out Loud.
OMG — means Oh My G-d.
I know what a dictionary is!
I know what a thesaurus is!
But is there anywhere I can find what those few letters mean when punched out on a cell phone?
Now let’s move on to the TV.
TV is short for television.
Raise your hand if you know what CEO stands for.
Do you know what FBI stands for?
How many TV watchers know (or care) what DCOF stands for? Dental Center of Florence!
I try to read the abbreviations that quickly move across the screen under the main pictures, like PM for Prime Minister, Pres. Elect for President Elect, WH for White House.
I must admit that I called my youngest son who lives in Florida to ask him this question: I didn’t have the slightest idea what the meaning of these letters was. I called him because I figured he wouldn’t tell his brothers about my call and his friends don’t know me. I asked what POTUS means. Of course, now I should feel stupid, or really dumb, but I don’t! I can’t imagine that five letters are used to represent the real term for the President of the United States. What can I do when the whole world is too busy (or too lazy) to use real words, just abbreviations? My family has an answer—maybe buy a computer or try Facebook or Twitter. My acronym is TBNT. Thanks—but—NO THANKS.
