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Abbreviation is a big part of textual communication. Over
time, popular phrases become initiated into regular text
patterns shown by the initials of each word. Examples
include: |
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FYI - for your information,
TBH - to be honest,
TBF - to be fair,
OMG - oh my god,
LOL - laugh out loud,
ROFL - roll on the floor laughing,
GTG - got to go,
TTUL - talk to you later, and
BTW - by the way.
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These abbreviations again save time and space. Such abbreviations
are so widely used and recognised now they become engrained into
language.
It’s not just letters that are used in abbreviations. Numbers are an
integral characteristic. Similarly to letters, if their sounds are
the equivalent of words, or part of a word then they will act as the
replacement. This adds to the theme of replacing several characters with
a single one. Examples of number use:
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2moro - replaces tomorrow.
2day - instead of today
L8r - shortened form of later.
Gr8 - stands in for great.
4ever - forever’s replacement.
4get - instead of forget.
4give - represents forgive.
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Other abbreviations exist in rebuses, i.e. Fri for Friday.
The feature that breaks from the shortening trend is predictive
text. If set to predictive text, typing certain digits will
result in the message guessing the word you intend to use. This
saves time, although using the full spelling of the word. Also,
words that contain similar letters can easily get confused, so going
back and actually editing is sometimes necessary.
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