AAA (Acronyms All Around)

No, this one is not about my friendly insurance company. It seems like as life continues to move faster and faster with the Internet booming and attention spans decreasing. As the speed increases it seems the letter-count in our writing decreases. Instead of words, we read our way through acronyms.

I work in the technology industry where acronyms seem to be the only known language well known to the lucky few who live tech. Our vernacular is made up of:

• GI (General Interface) our AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) solution


• BO (Business Optimization)


• My boss always says this acronym stinks and it always makes me laugh. Child humor will never die.


• SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)


• BPM (Business Process Management)


• MDM (Master Data Management)

The short attention span we’re all getting used to at work with the acronyms filling our vocabulary, sound bytes instead of full articles or stories filling our email, and quick IM conversations instead of phone meetings carries into the city. On my way home from running this evening I looked at a few for rent signs.

There’s a whole-sublanguage I’m learning in renters land.

• 1-BD (one bedroom)


• 1-BA (one bathroom)


• JBA (don’t get tricked by this one – it means teeny tiny bedroom)

The apartment down the street from me has a whopper: “1-BD, 1-BA, FDR, pkg ava. And view - $2,750.” I’m still trying to decipher this one. I’ve got that it’s a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, with parking available and a nice view, but what’s FDR? Fedora? Front Door? I have to admit, I’m stuck.

Well, for now, TTYLAB.