Hello you cool hip Eat Sleep Dreamers and people of YouTube welcome back to another
lesson with me Tom. Today we're looking at twenty modern English abbreviations and how
to use them. How many do you know? Let's find out.
There are three golden rules to using modern English abbreviations. Number one don't ever
say them. They are for written English, ok so don't say them. Number two, don't use them
in formal situations like an exam or a business presentation. It won't end well. And number
three, think about the person that you are communicating with. For example if i'm texting
my Grandma I'm not going to use WTF or LMAO. She's not going to want to understand so think
about the person you are communicating with and then decide if you should use these abbreviations.
Alright, let's look at number one.
Alright, we are going big with the first one. This is good guys. AF. Now this is a rude
one, I'm not going to say the rude word because this is Eat Sleep Dream English, we don't
say rude words in Eat Sleep Dream English. I'll leave it to you to know what this means
but AF is 'As f**k' the eff word. I'm not saying that word, don't try and get me to
say that word. Right, so what does this mean? Well, it means extremely. We use it to mean
extremely. I might send a message to my friend and I'll say 'I'm hungry AF' and that means
I'm really really hungry, ok? So you put it at the end of a sentence to emphasise what
you have just said. So I'm hungry and I'm emphasising exactly how hungry I am. This
is another brilliant one NSFW. Now sometimes people send each other messages with content
that maybe they don't want everyone to see. I won't go into what that is, you can use
your imagination. So if you are at work and your friend sends you a picture and you don't
know what's in that picture, if they have put NSFW that means not safe for work or not
suitable for work. That means don't open it at work because it contains content that's
not appropriate, ok? So if it has NSFW, it's not ok to look at in front of other people,
it's private or it's not suitable. NSFW, alright next one.
BTW by the way. We use btw to add an extra idea or an extra thought to what we are saying.
So for example you could use btw like this. You could be texting someone , you could say
'Yeah we should meet up soon. BTW have you heard from John recently?' So you are saying
we should meet up and then a kind of extra bit of information have you heard from John
recently? So it's just adding an extra bit of information on to what you are talking
about or what the topic that you are discussing at the time. BTW, it's a nice one. I'm sure
you have used this one before LOL, laugh out loud. So if you find something funny you can
text and put at the end LOL, it means hahaha how very funny haha LOL.
It can also mean lots of love but usually I would say most people use it to mean laugh
out loud haha laugh out loud.
Here's another rude one WTF, what the f**k. I'm not saying it guys, you now I'm not saying
this word, it's another rude word. The eff word. What the f**k. Now WTF, we use this
when we are extremely surprised or shocked about some information. So for example your
friend texts you and says 'Somebody just stole my laptop!' You could text back and say WTF
like oh wow! This is crazy shocking news. WTF. It's rude so be careful who you use it
with, WTF. J/K stands for just kidding. So if you have made a joke and you want to say
look I'm only joking you could put J/K, just kidding. This is one I'm sure you all know
OMG, oh my goodness, oh my gosh, oh my god whatever you want. Again we use it to show
surprise. It's not as rude as WTF. So it's much more common. OMG, oh my goodness. Now
this is one that I have heard some people say out loud in spoken English, it's up to
you, it's up to you. For example 'OMG Prince Harry and Megan are getting married.' FYI
is for your information. We use this to make someone aware of a piece of information that
we think is important. So we want them to know about this thing. For example 'FYI trains
leave every thirty minutes.' I know that that information will be really important to you
so that's why I'm telling you 'FYI trains leave every thirty minutes.' I'm trying to
hep you out here. I'm trying to give you that extra information. So it's a nice one, it's
a helpful one. FYI.
This is a nice one, i like this. WFH, working from home. In this day and age with people
working on their laptops sometimes they will be working from home and so you might say
WFH working from home. For example 'I'm WFH today.' I'm working from home today.
ICYMI that's a long one. In case you missed it. So if you see something interesting and
you think that somebody didn't see it you might write ICYMI in case you missed it. So
it might be an article that you have seen or a piece of news that you have seen and
you want that person to see it and to notice it you might use this abbreviation ICYMI it's
a long one, in case you missed it.
This is a good one, TMI. Too much information. Let's say for example your friend has gone
on a date and it went very well and they start giving you details that you don't need to
know. You could write TMI. Ok, too much information, that's enough. I don't need to know anymore
about your date. I got it, I understand. TMI, that's a nice one.
TBH, to be honest. If you are giving your opinion you could start it by saying TBH.
So TBH I don't need to hear anymore about your date! So if you want to be honest with
someone and tell them what you think and your opinion you could start it with TBH.
We had LOL which was laugh out loud. We could extend that even further, we could make it
even funnier by saying LMAO laughing my ass off. Your ass is your bottom. Laughing my
ass off. So if you think something is hilarious, very very funny LMAO laughing my ass off.
You could also use ROFL rolling on the floor laughing. That's pretty funny. Don't use that
one when it's just like haha use it when you are literally rolling on the floor laughing,
ok? DM stands for direct message. So when we are using Instagram for example, you might
DM someone and that means to direct message them. Also on Twitter as well we DM people.
So to DM is to direct message someone. Now we do use this in spoken English I've heard
it before. People might request it, they'll say 'just DM me' and that means direct message
me. So send me a message directly, DM. Speaking of social media, obviously all the social
media platforms have abbreviations so YouTube is YT, Facebook is FB and Instagram is IG.
So we use those abbreviations to talk about these social media platforms. So 'check out
my new YT video.' Is check out my new YouTube video.' You got that one though, I'm sure
you got that one.
BFF is best friends forever. So if you have someone that is very special to you.They are
the number one friend you have in your life you could describe them as being your BFF.
You often see this in hashtags on Instagram as well like a picture of someone with their
friend and they'll put #BFF, best friend forever.
The next one GOAT, which stands for greatest of all time. This is another hashtag that
I see quite often. It might be your favourite football player and you put a picture of them
up and you put hashtag GOAT, greatest of all time. Of course you might send this to your
Mum. Maybe your Mum is a superstar and you text your Mum GOAT. Mum you are GOAT. You
are the greatest of all time. Make sure of course that she understands what GOAT is and
that you are not just calling her a goat. Because you know, Mums don't like being called
goats so you know, greatest of all time.
FOMO, fear of missing out. This is that feeling of feeling like you are missing opportunities
that other people are out there doing really exciting things and you aren't doing any of
them. So it's quite a popular hashtag #FOMO it's often you know. It's a feeling that we
try to fight against but sometimes yeah your life isn't as exciting as other people's.
So FOMO.
And related to that one is YOLO, you only live once. It's that idea that you know what,
I'm just going to go and do the thing that I want to do because. I'm going to go and
visit Machu Pichu because you only live once. I only have one chance to do this. YOLO, you
only live once. Alright I've saved the best till last, this is my personal favourite FML.
But be careful guys because this is another rude one, ok? Be careful! FML, it's rude.
The F is a rude word, it's the eff word and then my life so eff word my life. So we use
this when something has gone wrong in our life, we've messed up, we've made a mistake.
There's a situation that we just think is the worst, we say FML. So for example 'i just
spilt wine over my boss's shirt FML.' It's like uhh I've made this mistake oh my life.
So if you want to express embarrassment or just that's just the worst news you can use
FML. But of course be careful who you use it with because it does stand for a rude word.
Well that was a fun journey through modern English abbreviations. I hope you enjoyed
it guys. Let me know in the comments below if I've missed any out. Have i forgotten any?
Please tell me in the comments below and which ones do you use and which ones didn't you
know that you want to use in the future? Alright, remember to hit that subscribe button and
that notification bell so that you don't miss a single lesson. And I've got new videos every
Tuesday and every Friday helping you take your English to the next level. Thanks so
much for hanging out with me guys, I've really enjoyed it. This is Tom, the Chief Dreamer,
saying goodbye.