Newsletter and Grammar Coach

Kids who marveled over Dick Tracy’s futuristic “two-way wrist radio” when it first appeared in comic strips in 1946 would have been overjoyed to know that they would be able to buy their own “smart watch” as adults. Technological innovations, including social media and text messaging, have enabled people to express themselves and communicate in ways that were unimaginable 30 years ago.

Communication is ineffective, though, if the message is unintelligible. We’re not talking about insufficient cellular signal strength; we’re referring to the content of the messages.

The capability of remaining in instantaneous and constant communication prodded people to find ways to spit out their messages even faster, giving rise to “SMS abbreviations” and acronyms for recurrent words and phrases in SMS (short message service) text communication. LOL became shorthand for “laughing out loud.” ROFL stood for rolling on the floor laughing. BTW came to mean “by the way.” IMO was understood to mean “in my opinion.” People may define their relationship as BFFs — best friends forever. The abbreviation AFAIK is intended to mean “as far as I know.”

The rationale for using such abbreviations was readily apparent. Tapping out characters on small smartphone screens with stubby thumbs is cumbersome and subject to inaccuracy. Substituting abbreviations and acronyms for phrases and long words helps to reduce the number of characters that need to be typed. That also was helpful on some social media platforms, such as Twitter, which imposed restrictive limits on the length of posts.

But even as consumers began favoring smartphones and tablets with larger screens (and correspondingly larger keyboard displays), many have clung to their use of abbreviations. The accuracy of predictive auto-text that suggests or fills in entire words after a couple of characters are typed has vastly improved, but that has not discouraged abbreviation aficionados. Most cell service carriers that once imposed costly thresholds on the amount of texting now offer unlimited texting at reasonable cost. Despite all that, use of SMS abbreviations has proliferated, invading even the printed page, business correspondence and advertising.

Some abbreviations require nearly as many keystrokes as the words they replace. The statement Let me know is not that hard to write, but some people insist on writing LMK instead. THX or TNX stands for the six-letter word “thanks” — but typing TNX requires five keystrokes (three letters plus tapping caps lock on and then off). That’s just plain silly. Sure, autofill might replace lowercase tnx with uppercase characters, but based on context, it also likely would figure out what word the typist intended after entering perhaps only “th.”

Corporations and government organizations breed use of abbreviations. Their CEOs (chief executive officers), CFOs (chief financial officers) and COOs (chief operating officers) commonly ask for the ETA (estimated time of arrival) of materials, and expect work to be completed by EOD (end of the day) or COB (close of business). BRB is used instead of “(I will) be right back.” The notation NRN is taken to mean “no reply necessary.” Someone who calls BS may be asking to see a “balance sheet.” An SME is a “subject matter expert.” You may know that B2B refers to “business to business” interactions, but may be unfamiliar with the term B2C — “business to consumer.” EOM means “end of message” — if you see that in an email subject line, you don’t need to open the email message body because the subject line constitutes the entire message. Not even “mom” is sacred; in some finance circles, MoM means “month over month.” Someone who is not in the office may be WFH — working from home.

Some people may misinterpret the meaning of some abbreviations. Folks who associate the term “goat” with the derogatory notion of a scapegoat may not understand that the sports-derived acronym GOAT is used these days to indicate the “greatest of all time.”

Responding to a point with which they disagree, some people write SMH to express the idea that they’re shaking my head. The cryptic shorthand 2N8 in a message may induce some head shaking among people who don’t know that the intended meaning is “tonight.”

Excessive use of abbreviations can unintentionally (or intentionally) exclude people from conversation if they’re unfamiliar with the code. When arcane abbreviations infest correspondence, loss of intelligibility is the result. Some SMS abbreviations are outright baffling.

2G2BT is code for “too good to be true.” ^^ means “read the content above.” ?4U is intended to mean “I have a question for you.” IIRC is lazy shorthand for “if I recall correctly.” In texting code, ATM is not necessarily a reference to an automated teller machine; it also means “at the moment.”

Recipients may conclude that they’re so unimportant to the sender that they don’t warrant more than a string of hasty abbreviations. If that’s not the message that senders want to convey, they might want to consider easing up on the use of abbreviations.

Dick Tracy was a smart guy, and we’re pretty sure he would agree.

Some of the clients who have used our Book Prep service are writers who have previously written books for traditional publishers. They chose to work with us because they wanted to have full control over the finished product and distribution.

Others are first-time authors who were determined to self-publish their manuscripts, but who needed the help of professionals in formatting their work for e-books as well as for print publication. And books by two authors were completed and published posthumously as a tribute by their spouses.

One such book was Chemical Insensitivity: How the Environment Cost Me My Life — My Struggle with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity by Sandy Major, who died of cancer in February 2020. Her husband, John, consolidated Sandy’s manuscript describing her battle with the debilitating condition that led to her death, along with relevant recollections and observations of friends and family members. The book includes some of the latest medical findings about MCS, what can be expected during the course of the frequently baffling condition, and numerous tips intended to help others learn how to live with it. Following publication of the book, John sent a heartfelt message of appreciation to Book Prep graphic designer Marti Childs, who prepared the book for publication.

“Sometimes, the words ‘we couldn’t have done it without you’ might seem trite. Not this time. Thank you, Marti, for your patience and understanding,” John wrote.

Sacramento County resident Andrea Elizabeth used Book Prep services to publish her first book, What If You Were God? 21-Day Work And Prayer Book To Find Your Inner Substance.

“I chose EditPros at first because it was a local business. Then, when I met Marti and Jeff, I knew they would be the team to work on my book,” Elizabeth explained. “They are knowledgeable and have years of experience working together as a team. Marti was open and accepting of the value I had put into my first book. She realized right away I was nervous and a bit scared about putting this information out into the world.” Elizabeth added that EditPros helped her overcome her apprehension.

“Marti gave me the reassurance I needed by offering suggestions and assisting me in deciding on what I really wanted to provide to the world. She also had great intuition in helping me pick my cover for my book,” Elizabeth said. “I told her what I wanted and she literally picked the perfect book cover for me. I was pleased with the formatting and the layout of my book as well. Working with Marti was exceptionally easy and her knowledge of the process was impressive. I look forward to working on my next book with Jeff and Marti soon.”

Matthew B. Zavod, M.D., is an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor) and reconstructive facial plastic surgeon who envisioned a book to help his own and other children to overcome fear of injections. He appointed EditPros’ Book Prep service to bring his concept to reality. We paired him with talented illustrator Orsolya Orbán, and the result is his whimsical children’s book Dr. Ridiculopickulopot and the Shot.

“When a friend introduced me to Marti and Jeff at EditPros, I had no idea how important they would be in the fulfillment of my dream to publish my children's book. From finding illustrators to formatting pages, Marti and Jeff were consummate professionals: honest, transparent, caring, and comprehensive,” Zavod wrote. “It is an absolute pleasure to work with them. They made the process of publishing clear and simple. In discussions with other friends who are self-published, I realize the importance of the guidance I received from EditPros. Thank you, Marti and Jeff, for your expertise and kindness.”

During Diane Mengali’s childhood in Northern California in the 1950s, her family appeared functional and successful, as far as neighbors, friends and even relatives could tell. Concealed from their view, however, was her mother’s depression, alcoholism and suicidal tendencies, and her father’s intolerant attitude and infidelity. As a child, Diane internalized her mother’s fear and insecurity and by age 10, she had become a chronic worrier.

As a young woman, Diane moved out of the dysfunctional home of her parents. She married in 1966, but within a year experienced the first in what became an ongoing series of panic attacks. In 1983, a psychiatrist diagnosed Diane with agoraphobia, a type of anxiety disorder characterized by fear and avoidance of any situation that may cause panic, usually accompanied by feelings of helplessness, shame and being trapped. A few years later, she found a therapist who guided her through long-dormant painful emotions, and introduced her to behavior modification and the life-saving practice of mindfulness.

Three decades later, she developed the resolve to tell her story publicly, to help other people suffering from undiagnosed agoraphobia. She began writing her thoughts about that, resulting in publication of a book in 2017 with the help of our Book Prep service. Diane hopes that her book, The Quicksand of Agoraphobia: A Memoir of Panic Disorder, will help people understand the torment and terror that people with panic disorder and agoraphobia face daily. With early diagnosis and treatment, panic disorder can be treated with therapy and medication.

As part of the Book Prep package, EditPros professionally formatted the interior pages of each of these books and more than two dozen others, designed the cover for each, and readied them for print publication. EditPros also formatted and converted the book files into e-book formats for sale through Amazon (Kindle), Apple (iBooks), Barnes & Noble (Nook), and Kobo, by means of submission to IngramSpark’s e-book service.

With Book Prep, authors retain all rights to their books, and collect 100 percent of sales royalties.

Would you like to transform the book of your dreams into reality?  We invite you to LEARN MORE about the EditPros Book Prep service.

Phil D. wrote:

The grammar coach replies:

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Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help — at no charge, just for the sport of it.

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