Useful English Abbreviations - Part I
Tags: english, language, remote, business
Published: 2023-02-08 00:11:37

Working remotely is quite common these days. Not only for IT people, but for professionals of several different areas. Having said that, communication is key to achieve great results.

No! This post is neither an article about the infamous home-office nor any kind of doubtful coaching session for you to grow on your career.

Let's talk about ABBREVIATIONS 🫢 (what?!)

Considering that human beings tend to be a little bit lazy, not only when speaking but also when writing, I listed some of the most common abbreviations you might see when talking to someone using text messages.
Some of them are extremely common in working environments and some are likely to be sent in an informal conversation.
Either way, it might be useful if you, like me, have already come across some crazy initials during a chat and had no idea what that meant.

## BRB - Be Right Back

Mainly used when you need to drop a meeting shortly to go to the bathroom or to sip your tasty wine while your camera is off.

## IMHO - In My Humble Opinion 😌

This is used when you need to (politely) disagree with what someone else said. Something like: "Yeah, I see your point. But, IMHO, I don't think we should go that way".

## TBH - To Be Honest

When someone is making clear they're sharing a sincere opinion (even though no one else has asked for).
"Well... TBH, I'm here just for the money."

## LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off 🤣

This is an English expression to use when you want to show someone you found something extremely funny (even though your real face might be showing the opposite 😒).

## OMG - Oh My God! 😨

This is one of the classic sentences used by Discovery Channel interviewees. This will tell people how surprised you are after someone said something (even if it's not that interesting at all.)

## ASAP - As Soon As Posible 💨

Say this when you wanna ask someone to stop _beating around the bush_ and deliver that infamous report immediately or when you almost need to apologize to someone for not doing something you were supposed to.


## NP - No Problem 👍

Use that when someone apologizes immediately after saying something stupid or when they say they're sorry about forgetting to send that urgent e-mail (even though you might be pissed off with them for that 😅).

## LGTM - Looks Good To Me 👌

This is extremely famous and basically means that you haven't read or checked anything related to your colleague's work but you want to get rid of that as quickly as possible.

## PTAL - Please Take Another Look 👀

This one is for those times when you revise or fix something, for example, a task description or a report and you want people to “take another look” at it. Read: "this is rubbish, please do it again 😬)

# Conclusion

Since many people are working remotely, text communication is something extremely important and present nowadays. Having the ability to communicate efficiently leverages common understanding and collaboration. If you talk frequently to native English speakers you'll commonly find yourself Googling  some expression or abbreviations. This article (hopefully the first part of a second yet to be written) brings some of the most common abbreviations used in English written communication.
I hope it helps you!