Special Notes: Acronyms and Abbreviations on Chat and in Text Messaging

It has become very common to use acronyms and abbreviations on internet chat and in text messaging. However, that way of writing is highly informal. Do not use it in letters or in essays, only use it on chat and in text messaging if the person you are writing to does the same. Sometimes you will find such acronyms and abbreviations on work notes; this is to make the message shorter, but that does not mean you can use them when writing to your boss!

The most common acronyms and abbreviations are:
2 = to / too
4 = for
8 = ate; l8r = later

ASAP = as soon as possible
BBL = be back later
b/c = because
BRB = be right back
C = see
CU = see you
FYI = for your information
G2G = got to go
IIRC = if I remember correctly
IMHO = in my humble opinion
IMNSHO = in my not so humble opinion
M/T = empty
o/c = of course
TGIF = Thank God, it's Friday!
THX = thanks
TY = thank you
U = you
w/ = with
w/o = without
Y = why

Special Notes: Handwriting Ciphers

People write ciphers differently in English speaking countries from the way people write ciphers in Germany. In most cases, there will not be much space for confusion. Just note that '1' can look like 'I' in English.

It is important to write ciphers the English way when you are filling in your immigration form for the USA; sometimes people will be asked to fill in a new form if they haven't gone by the English standard.

Special Notes: Writing the Date

There are different ways of writing the date in English. Generally, dates are read the same way, for example: the first of September two thousand and seven.

In Britain, you can write the date the following way: 01/09/2007 respectively 01/09/07.
First comes the day, then the month, then the year.

In America, the date is often written this way: 09/01/2007 respectively 09/01/07.
Here, the month comes first, followed by the day and the year.

As you can see, those two different ways of writing the date can be confusing, because you cannot always tell what the day and what the month is. Therefore the safest way of writing the date is 1 September 2007 respectively 1st September. Only use the abbreviations 'st' (for 'first'), 'nd' ('second'), 'rd' ('third'), 'th' ('fourth', 'fifth', 'sixth' etc.) when you do not write the year.

You may have seen other ways of writing the date (e.g. September 1, 2007 / September 2007, 1); those ways are outdated even if some people – and many schoolbooks for English learners – still use them.

A common short way of writing the date, for example in notes, is 1 Sep 2007.