| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about some common English acronyms and initialisms. Let's get started. |
| Okay. First, I want to begin by explaining what acronyms and initialisms are. Acronyms are short versions of phrases, or titles, or expressions, and so on. Acronyms are created using the first letter of each word in the expression. And then, we pronounce acronyms as a word. So, acronyms are these words, for example, over here. But, you may also hear people using acronym to refer to initialisms, too, which we're going to talk about a little bit later. So, first, let's take a look at this group of vocabulary words that are pronounced as words. |
| Okay. So, let's take a look at the first word here, "YOLO," Y-O-L-O. So, as I said, we create acronyms using the first letter of each word in the expression. In this case, Y-O-L-O, this creates YOLO. So, "YOLO" means "you only live once," you only live once. So, we use this expression usually before we do something really exciting, or maybe something that makes us feel a little bit nervous. People like to use it maybe before they do something dangerous, or something risky. They might shout, "YOLO!" And then, maybe jump into a river or something like that. So, it's an expression that usually is kind of cheerful and feels kind of exciting. And, like someone wants to do something because they have a chance right now. So, this is how we might use "YOLO." |
| Okay. The next acronym here is "GOAT," GOAT. "GOAT" stands for "greatest of all time," greatest of all time. So, you might hear people talking about their favorite celebrity, or maybe their favorite artist, their favorite performer, with the expression "GOAT." Like, for example, "Beyoncé is the GOAT," or something like that. So, someone, or some group of people, that a person feels are the best at something, of all time, they might be using the word "GOAT." People might use the word "GOAT" to express that they feel that that person is amazing, or that group of people is amazing. So, it does not refer to the animal. It refers to this expression. So and so is the greatest of all time. |
| Okay, great. Let's go to the next one. The next one is "FOMO," FOMO. "FOMO" means "fear of missing out," fear of missing out. So, unlike these two that I talked about earlier, which might be used in short phrases or just as kind of an excited shout with YOLO, "FOMO" is typically used in sentences. For example, "I stayed home tonight, but I have such bad FOMO. I'm checking everyone's updates on Instagram." "FOMO" refers to the fear of missing out on social activities, or some kind of maybe interpersonal connection, or maybe some big event. "Fear of missing out," so we want to participate in something but we're not participating in it. So, we feel this fear. This is called "FOMO." Now, we call this "fear of missing out." |
| Okay. Next is a very common one in banking, P-I-N, "PIN." "PIN" means "personal identification number," personal identification number. So, when you go to an ATM, or another banking establishment, or maybe there are some other situations, like using a credit card, for example, you may be asked to input to enter your "PIN," which means your personal identification number, your PIN. So, typically, this is only used in ATMs, or on other kind of personal identification request forms, or request forms, or request boxes like at a credit card machine, and so on. |
| Okay. Next. Let's go to the last two here. These both come from kind of military backgrounds. The first one is "AWOL," AWOL. A-W-O-L. "AWOL" means "absent without leave." So, this "without," we've kind of taken the W and the O here together, without. Absent without leave. This means someone is not doing their job or is not in the place they're supposed to be, but they did not take time off. So, "leave" means taking time off, or time off from your job or your position. "Absent without leave" means someone is missing. So, "He's gone AWOL," is where you might hear this. Or, "She's gone AWOL," or perhaps just, "He's AWOL," or "She's AWOL." This expresses that someone is unexpectedly not in their position, or someone is unexpectedly not at their job or not doing the thing that they're supposed to do. So, again, using "AWOL" has kind of a little bit of a military feel, or an official feel. You might also hear the initialism used, "M-I-A." "He's M-I-A." M-I-A means "missing in action," missing in action. That means someone went to do something -- like for example, a military mission, and in the process, they went missing. So, we cannot find that person after they took their actions to go on their mission. So, these are kind of similar expressions, but they are used in everyday conversation from time to time to refer to someone who is not at their position or not at their post. |
| Okay. Lastly is "SWAT," SWAT, S-W-A-T. "SWAT," this means "special weapons and tactics," special weapons and tactics. So, this is typically used in military and police situations. However, this is also sometimes used in business, or perhaps even in academic situations maybe, when you need to use special effort to achieve a goal. So, usually, this is talked about in terms of a team, a SWAT team. Like a special weapons and tactics team. When you call in, or you request a SWAT team, it's because you find yourself in a situation where you need some kind of special effort. So, you might hear maybe businesses or groups of people say like, "Let's call in the SWAT team," which means, "Let's call in a group of people to give us some extra effort to get over this problem, or to help us achieve this goal." So, it doesn't always mean using weapons or maybe special military tactics. But, it does sometimes refer to using extra effort, like asking extra people for help for something or maybe getting some new kind of equipment. Some kind of extra effort is required to achieve a goal or to overcome a problem. So, you may hear "SWAT" used to talk about that. |
| So, these are some examples of acronyms. As I said, we use a word pronunciation for these. So, we don't say, "Y-O-L-O" here, or "G-O-A-T." We say "YOLO," or "GOAT," or "FOMO," these kinds of things. |
| So, let's compare this to initialisms, initialisms. So, as I said before, acronyms and initialisms are sometimes used to mean the same thing. So, we can say that these acronyms here, these could also be considered acronyms as well. But, some people are very, very, very, very strict about this and say, "Acronyms are only words that we pronounce as a word. And, initialisms are only these abbreviations. We pronounce with letters." So, don't be too worried about this. But, please, just know that some people have a very, very strict separation of these two groups. |
| So, initialism. I've already hinted at it. An "initialism" is a shortened version of a phrase title expression and so on. It is created using the first letter of each word in the expression. It is read as letters. This is the key difference from this first group of acronyms here. We read these as words, FOMO, PIN, AWOL, and so on. These, however, are read as individual letters. So, I've selected a big group of some very common ones. Let's take a look. |
| First is "ASAP." "ASAP," this means "as soon as possible," as soon as possible. This is a very common initialism. It is used in the business world. It is used in casual messages. It is used everywhere. "ASAP," asap as soon as possible. So, please do this quickly, or please take care of this quickly, immediately, as soon as you can. |
| The next one is "DIY," DIY, do it yourself. "Do it yourself." It's important to know, "do it yourself," or "DIY," is usually used to talk about hobbies or projects, something like that. We don't usually use "DIY" to make a request, or to reply to someone. Like, for example, if someone says, "Can you help me with this report?" And you say in response, "DIY." That doesn't make any sense. We don't use, "Do it yourself," as a response to someone. Instead, we talk about our personal projects usually as "DIY" projects. For example, "I created a birdhouse. It was a great DIY project!" So, these are kind of personal maybe hobby or other activity-related things. And, we use "DIY" to express that it's something we created on our own, meaning without a professional. |
| Okay. Next. very common online is "FAQ," FAQ. "FAQ" means "frequently asked questions," frequently asked questions. So, you will probably find this on the home page of a number of major websites. So, common questions that companies receive from customers typically are on an FAQ page, a "frequently asked questions" page. So, it's typically found on websites. It might also be found in pamphlets of organizations. But, "FAQ" is another good one to know. |
| Okay. Next is "AKA." "AKA" means "also known as," also known as. So, when someone or something has more than one name, you might see "AKA" used. For example, "Superman, AKA Clark Kent." So, Superman and Clark Kent are the same person. But, this one person has more than one name, right? So, we use "AKA" to express that Superman, "also known as" Clark Kent. So, when we want to talk about someone's other name or another way that you might know that person, you can use "AKA" to do that in a short way. |
| Okay. Next is "FYI, FYI, for your information. This one is typically used at the beginning of a sentence. You can use this in emails. This is very common in emails and in text messages. "FYI, the meeting time was changed to 2 o'clock," or "FYI, we're out of bread. Can you pick some up?" So, this sounds like you're giving someone else a quick piece of information. "FYI. |
| Next is "ETA," ETA. "ETA" means "estimated time of arrival," estimated time of arrival. This is typically used when you are talking to someone about your schedule. So, someone might send you this with a question mark, "ETA?" Meaning, "What's your estimated time of arrival?" Or, "When do you think you're going to arrive?" "ETA?" And, you might respond with just a time, or maybe you might say, "In 10 minutes," for example. Or, you might write to someone and say, "ETA: one hour." So, "ETA" is a very common way to estimate the time at which something will happen, or something will arrive. |
| Okay. Next. This one. This is very, very, very common on the internet. It is "TL, semicolon, DR." TL;DR. This means "too long, didn't read," too long, didn't read. This one is used very commonly at the end of a very, very long post. So, on something like a community forum or a message board, users might write a really long message. They might write something about their personal life, or share an interesting story, or something like that. And, at the end, they may include this, "TL;DR." So, this means for those of you for whom my story was too long, and you didn't read it, here's a short summary. So, you might find this "TL;DR" at the end, the very, very end of a very long post on the internet. "TL;DR" and a short summary, or one or two points summary. So, "TL;DR" means "too long, didn't read." So, this can be very, very helpful for your readers. If you want to provide a short summary of something at the bottom of a long post. |
| Okay. Let's finish up with some very quick initialisms. "BRB," means "be right back." "BRB," be right back. We usually use this when we are typing to friends on like an instant messenger, or perhaps on a work messenger, or something like that. It means, I need to go for a moment, and I will come back very quickly, "be right back." BRB. |
| The next two are a pair, "BF" and "GF," boyfriend and girlfriend. We use these in place of the word boyfriend or girlfriend in our text messages, and so on. So, for example, "Having coffee with my BF right now." You could say, "Having coffee with my boyfriend," in the same way. Or, "I'm meeting my GF for dinner tonight." So, "I'm meeting my girlfriend for dinner tonight." These two are very, very commonly used so "BF" and "GF" are very, very, very, very commonly used in text. |
| Okay. Next is "SO," SO. "SO" means "significant other," significant other. So, this is typically used among married couples, but it doesn't have a gender attached to it. So, this could refer to someone's wife, to someone's husband, maybe to someone's partner, if they're not married yet but they still want to express that the other person is significant. Lots of people use "SO" typically on online message boards, community forums, and so on. So, for example, like, "My SO said to me," which means, "My significant other said to me." So, people might use "SO" in place of maybe husband or wife, or maybe boyfriend or girlfriend. It's just a personal preference. So, "SO" means significant other. |
| Okay. Next is "BTW," BTW. "BTW" means "by the way," by the way. So, this is common in text messages, in particular. You might see it in more casual emails in business settings. But, if you want to be formal, I recommend not using this in your business emails. "BTW" means "by the way." So, for example, "BTW," you might see this in a text, "BTW, did you ever check that file that I sent you?" So, "By the way, did you ever check that file I sent you?" So, this is a really good way to check in with someone. |
| Finally, "JK." "JK" means "just kidding," just kidding. So, it means, "I was just joking. That was just a joke." "JK." So, this is something you can use to follow up a text. Maybe you send a joke text to your friend, and then you write, "JK," just kidding. So, use this one very carefully. Joke with your friends and text carefully. If it's not clear you're kidding, you might use "JK" to express that. |
| So, these are some very common initialisms. There are a lot more. There are a lot of initialisms, but I've chosen just a few here that are very commonly used. |
| Again, an initialism is a word that is read as its letters. We read this as its letters. We don't read it as "asap," or "dui," something like that. We don't read it in this way. Again, you might hear some people saying that acronyms and initialisms overlap, they're the same. Some people are very strict about the differences between the two. But, at least, I hope this video helps you understand that there are some words that are pronounced as words, and some that are pronounced with their letters. So, I hope that you found something interesting in this video. Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye. |
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