Acronyms Seriously Suck

You probably got the link to this page from someone who wanted to make you aware of the problems of using acronyms. The idea for this page was given by the e-mail with the subject “Acronyms Seriously Suck” sent by Elon Musk to all employees of his company in May 2010.

👀 This is kind of half serious, so please don't be mad at the person who sent you here. 👀

Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. No one can actually remember all these acronyms and people don't want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees.

Elon Musk in May 2010

Why should I avoid acronyms?

Acronyms seriously suck. You shoud avoid acronyms for a number of reasons:

You can never be sure that the recipient of your message knows the acronym you want to use. If you avoid the acronym, you're on the safe side.
They are often ambiguous. If the recipient doesn't know the meaning of an acronym and tries to look it up, they often get a list of different possible meanings. This makes it difficult to figure out what was really meant.
Especially in the corporate environment, the number of acronyms grows over time. No one can remember them all. Especially for new colleagues it can become a pain to follow a conversation that is peppered with unfamiliar acronyms.
Communication that avoids acronyms is also a contribution to an inclusive language. It makes life easier for people from diverse cultural backgrounds like non-native speakers.
The days when acronyms saved paper and ink are (almost) over thanks to digital communication.

But acronyms are much faster to write!

Unless it is a personal message, a text will most likely be read by more people than written. So if you are trying to communicate efficiently, you should take into account how quickly the text can be understood by the recipients. If acronyms have to be looked up (or even asked for the meaning) by several readers, using acronyms cost overall more time in communication.

Moreover, especially those people that use acronyms excessively write a lot anyway. They type fast. The loss of time when writing out acronyms is rather small.

In the end, it's also about paying respect to the readers and not dumping your own laziness on them.

But acronyms are much faster to read!

If you are very familiar with the used acronyms, that's probably true. However, when you use acronyms for commonly used phrases, your brain is also likely to be able to grasp that phrase very quickly at a glance.

If you pronounce acronyms in your head, the advantage is also quickly gone. At the latest, when you speak the acronym letter by letter, this often results in more syllables.

And what about such common acronyms like FYI, OTOH, LMK, LGTM, WDYT …? They are OK, aren't they?

When you are sure that the readers know the acronyms then probably yes. However, you usually can't be sure. Especially when communicating with non-native speakers, these acronyms pose yet another hurdle. Not only do they have to learn a new language, but they also have to learn all the acronyms that are usually not taught in language school, but come from the internet community. So better be on the safe side and avoid them as well.

And if I can't/won't avoid an acronym?

If for some reason you can't or don't want to do without an acronym (e.g. because of limited space), at least link the meaning if somehow possible.
(For example, as with the acronym “PR” in the footer of this page).

ASS Acronyms Seriously Suck

Why should I avoid acronyms?

But acronyms are much faster to write!

But acronyms are much faster to read!

And what about such common acronyms like FYI, OTOH, LMK, LGTM, WDYT …? They are OK, aren't they?

And if I can't/won't avoid an acronym?