“What, or should I say, who is LOL?” I asked in all innocence.

My friend laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I’m not.” In fact, I was perfectly serious. I was getting frustrated with all these emails with random insertions of LOL. I wanted to know what or who this LOL was.

“It’s an acronym.” She was still laughing.

“For what?” I was still serious and getting more annoyed by the minute.

“It means Laugh Out Loud.”

“Why can’t the writer make a more original comment, like ‘very funny’.”

“LOL is fewer letters.”

“What are we? A bunch of lazies?”

“Probably,” my friend agreed. “We live in an era of texting and acronyms are shorter, easier to spell out.”

“Oh!” I gave my standard, one-word, unconvinced reply and changed the subject.

The issue of acronym use, however, and the appreciation of the new lingo of LOL and OMG, was prominent in my thoughts. So, when I picked up an 800-page memoir to read for review, I was taken aback by the number of acronyms. Most of the story was a retelling of a long-distance romance through skype and emails. Hence, the acronyms. Everything from these conversations was shared in the 800 pages, even the acronyms. I was fine with the more recognizable ones, LOL and OMG. But it quickly became evident that the two love-birds had created a whole new dictionary of acronyms, a secret code of their own. By the second chapter, I was lost. Even the short dictionary of acronyms at the end didn’t help, because the author neglected to include a complete list.

OMG. What have we come to? Writing stories in a new secret code? An acronymically-inspired code? It bears the question: how much acronym use in our writing is acceptable? And how much is too much?

Acronyms have been around for a long time. AWOL – absent without leave – and ASAP – as soon as possible – are quite recognizable, even to my generation. And then there’s the commonly informative acronyms: 

ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

DOB – Date of Birth

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

SWAT – Special Weapons and Tactics

NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation

And many others fall into this list. I would say the more recognizable the acronym, the more acceptable it is to use it in writing.

However, the more obscure, or even the make-up-on-the-spot acronyms, like BBIAB, BBS, FISH, IRL, KISS, PANS, POS, and so many others, should be used at a minimum. I mean, really, when you think about it, do you want your readers to have to constantly decode your writing in order to read your stories?  Like, it’s NYOB IMO BTW what IDK about what’s IRL. And, if you didn’t get all that, here's a list and decoding:

BBIAB – Be Back In A Bit

BBS – Be Back Soon

FISH (not as in the activity of fishing) – First In, Still Here

IRL – In Real Life

KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid

PANS – Pretty Awesome New Stuff

POS – Parents Over Shoulder

NYOB IMO BTW what IDK about what’s IRL – None of Your Business, In My Opinion, By The Way, what I Don’t Know about what’s In Real Life.

A little bit can go a long way to present a realistic scenario of texting in your character communications. Don’t overdo the acronyms and don’t use uncommon or made-up ones. You want your readers to read and enjoy your work, not give up in frustration because they don’t understand the code.