Online abbreviations

“I heard you slept with Alex. Did you really?” “lol no.” LOL means "laughing out loud." The abbreviation "OMG (Oh, my God!)" is also often used. The Oxford English Dictionary has accepted online abbreviations often used in texting, social networking services and online chat. FYI (for your information) is another example.

Abbreviations can be found in any language. In France, “Bonjour, ça va? (Hi, how are you?)” is written “bjr, sava?” In Germany, "bgwd" means “(Ich) bin gleich wieder da (I`ll be back soon).” In Spain, people use "acias" instead of "gracias (Thank you)." Koreans are no exception. “급질 (geup jil)” is an abbreviation of “급한 질문 (geuphan jilmun or quick question).” Certain terms are made with the first phoneme such as ㅋㅋ (kk), an acronym of 키득키득 (kideuk kideuk), a giggling sound, or with a shortened form such as 넘 (neom), a shortened form of 너무 (neomu or too much).

FYI often shows up in corporate reports in the U.S. Even 10 or 20 years ago, using FYI to a boss would have invited criticism because it sounded vulgar. Not so today. The Oxford dictionary said people have used FYI as a short note since 1941 and "OMG" first appeared in 1912. Oxford has accepted only acronyms and rejected other abbreviations that destroy the word coinage structure, such as b4 (before), U (you) and thx (thanks).

Online abbreviations save time but do not guarantee quick communication. Many parents do not understand messages that their adolescent children use. Moreover, the Korean alphabet cannot make acronyms easily. Many online abbreviations destroy the word coinage rule. Hopefully, Koreans can have universal abbreviations that can be used for all generations without undermining the Korean language.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)