What Do TLDR & FFA and Other Strange Things Mean?

I find it exasperating when writers use acronyms and abbreviations in their writing, without initially explaining what they mean. One thing for sure is that using strange acronyms and unexplained abbreviations can put someone off reading. Here are some mysteries in some Medium articles that I have come across, which I will try to explain.

TLDR or TL;DR

Too long, didn’t read: This is apparently an attempt at humour (too long, don’t read) to introduce a long piece of text. The writer is being self-deprecating, which means apologising in advance for something being exasperating because it is so long.

The author could write “this is a long article but worth reading if you’re interested in the subject, plus you could read this in a number of reading sessions if you don’t have time to read it in one session.”

Or they could leave out TLDR altogether.

I have never seen TLDR used by someone on Medium as a comment that something that THEY read was too long so they didn’t read it.

Strangely I’ve seen some writers on Medium use TLDR for a short piece of text. Confusingly, I’ve heard that TLDR might also mean the writer is summarising information and not providing details. So why don’t they just tell us that clearly, e.g. write “The following is a summary of [ whatever ]?”

If you want to see a piece of writing that is TLDR or too long for the short attention-spanned, apparently time-starved person to read, you ain’t seen some of my stories on Medium yet!

FFA

Free for all as in a game is “free for all” (but it could also mean far far away).

ROI

Return on investment. I’ve seen this a lot in Medium articles, with the writers wrongly assuming that everyone with a brain knows what it means. Writers who use this, I ask you not to assume that everyone knows what you know.

AMA

Ask me anything

B2B

Business to business.

CTA

Call to action.

GTG

Got to go.

ICYMI

In case you missed it.

JK

Just kidding.

LMK

Let me know.

POTD

Photo of the day.

SMH

Shaking my head.

TBH

To be honest

TBT

Throwback Thursday

TIL

Today I learned

YOLO

You only live once.

In summary, TBH TIL YOLO. But ICYMI JK and GTG now.

This is my CTA to AMA. LMK your POTD. I’ll leave you SMH because it’s funny B2B when your ROI is a FFA !! 😆

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