Acronyms Used In Communication

With the invention of new forms of communication, new forms of language are created to go along with them. With the mobile phone age and internet chat rooms acronyms have come into wide use. All the obvious ones could be listed here but what would be the point, because we all know them. LOL, LMOA, DILLIGAF etc. But this form of language is just a variation on a theme.

It has evolved from another form of communication. With the invention of portable radios used by the armed services during World War 2. Operators invented acronyms so they could relay and receive orders in a timely fashion. In particular the US Military has always been fond of using acronyms, but the British and Commonwealth forces adopted it too. Listed below are some I found whilst researching this article.

1. LMF- Low Morale Fibre RAF speak.
2. SNAFU- Situations Normal Alls Fucked Up
3. FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
4. ETOUSA – European Theatre of Operations, United States Army
5. BEF – British Expeditionary Force
6. BAR – Browning Automatic Rifle
7. LCT – Landing Craft, Tank
8. SCAGF- Supreme Commander Allied Ground Forces (my particular favourite)

The third item in the list should be familiar to all of us, as it was used extensively in the movie Saving Private Ryan.

Then during the Vietnam War this theme was continued and the radio operators made up their own abbreviations.

1. FNG- Fucking New Guy
2. NVA- North Vietnamese Army
3. PAVN- Peoples Army of the Republic of Vietnam
4. REMF- Rear Echelon Mother Fucker

During this war the individual services also had their own sub-forms of the language listed below are some that were used by The Marines.

1. JARHEAD: Marine.
2. POLICE UP: clean up.
3. KLICK: kilometre.
4. STROKE BOOK: porno magazine.

Strictly speaking these are not acronyms but it does emphasise the point that language is developed to suit the needs of each individual operator.
So this brings us up to date to our own more modern acronyms that are used in internet chat rooms and when sending text messages from our mobile phones. I will continue this theme in a later blog that will be devoted to World War 2 abbreviated language. There were some creative acronyms that I found that are just too numerous to list here.