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Grammar

Like It Or Not, Internet Abbreviations Can Hurt Credibility

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Do internet abbreviations bother you? They bother some enough that your credibility could suffer because of them.

We received an email in the newsroom the other day from a viewer who was concerned about a story we had covered. In the story, we quoted a local law enforcement agency that tweeted details about a reported crime that turned out not to be what people initially thought it was, (at least as far as anyone can tell at this point).

One of the complaints was that the tweet didn’t seem all that credible because it used the abbreviation “cuz” instead of spelling out because.

It struck me funny: as much into grammar as I am, doing a weekly piece on grammatical pet peeves, I should surely have had the same reaction to such an annoying little non-word like “cuz.”

But I suppose I’ve become used to such abbreviations, accustomed to having to read a certain amount of online “shorthand” owing to either laziness or character restrictions. (And in some cases, both.)

In this particular case, I happen to know the person who runs the Twitter account in question, and I also know that the account is run by the official spokesperson of the agency, so the tweet, “cuz” and all, was perfectly legitimate, and had been corroborated by a separate email sent to us from the same person that confirmed the same sentiment.

But the complaint served as an important reminder nonetheless: sometimes your readers, even on a platform like Twitter that imposes strict character limits, will judge the credibility of your message by the words you use and how you use them.

This is especially true of businesses, where people seem to easily forget that there are people behind the company name they see. The expectation from some seems to be that professionals will always elevate their communications beyond text-speak, especially when the topic is more serious.

It may be worth avoiding those “cutesy”&nbsp chat-inspired abbreviations, depending on the age of your target audience. It might just cause certain readers or customers to question your sincerity or even your believability.

Are there internet abbreviations that bother you when you see them used by businesses? If so, which ones?

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.
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I am adamant that no one ever shorten or use ”cutesy“ abbreviations – or, for that matter, smiley faces, any emoticons, etc., in what are business communications, in- or out of house. It is immature and undermining. We are not seven-year-olds, we are adults, doing adult jobs. (Well, one hopes, but years of human resources and dealing with too, too many poorly behaved people has convinced me that too few people are truly adults instead of overgrown children.) To find these abbreviations is indeed egregious. I’m not on Twitter for two reasons: I am not one to use every communication… Read more »

Call me old fashion but when I get a business email that reads like this, “k c u @ DD @ 10:30” I don’t think that is very professional. That message was sent by my MSW intern to me, I was her supervisor and we were to meet at Dunkin Donuts before we went to see the client.

Yikes! I had to read that abbreviated gobbledygook a few times to realise what I was looking at before heading down to the rest of your comment, which at least solved the one part I did not understand: DD. That’s rather appalling. I find it hard to believe anyone speaking/communicating in a business fashion like that cannot see how wrong that is. Or am I much more a grammar/spelling/English Nazi as people tell me am? On a side note, I never use abbreviations of this nature in ANY communication, professional or personal. I love the English language far too much… Read more »