'V' Is for Very: The rise of the shortest possible abbreviation and what it means for the future

The Atlantic ^ | January 14, 2015 | Tanya Basu

[C19fan]

Over lunch one day, a co-worker grumbled about something being "v. annoying."

It took a second for me to understand what the quick, consonant blip pre-adjective was, and when my brain processed it, I realized something: Yet again, we'd contextualized Internet slang into a colloquialism.

Or was it as new-fangled as it seemed?

OMG, after all, the classic abbreviation—used by squealing pre-teens, shocked parents, and everyone in between to evoke a three-syllabic exclamation of emotions ranging from surprise to ironic excitement—was one of the original text acronyms to be translated from cellphone screen to language (remember those "scandalous" Gossip Girl ads with block letter "OMFG" plastered over racy, hazy scenes of the show's Upper East Siders?). Then there was LOL (spelled aloud as "el-oh-el," or pronounced alternately as "lawl," or with a zippy z at the end, "lawlz"), whose evocation raised a contradiction—often saying "LOL" means you aren't actually laughing.

[C19fan]

Because of texting and twitter English is becoming something akin to Orwell's Newspeak but coming from below not imposed from the top.

[WayneS]

Lost in all this is the fact that it only takes about one additional micro-second to say “very” instead of “vee”.

[Parmy]

Yes, they tweet and text in Broken English. So much so that they can't even talk in proper English. I grew up where broken English was spoken a lot, but only because the speakers were from other countries and older. So they English wasn't their first language.

These people are just dumbing themselves down even more.

[Responsibility2nd]

Hmm.

I was gonna snark at the hipster doofus who would say “v. annoying”.

But then I realized I’m in the habit of telling people (in person) I’ll BRB.

But thinking about it - we have been abbreviating our words for years.

PDQ, ASAP, OK, FUBAR, and so on.

[edpc]

I think the funniest part is they still keep the much longer word (both in letter and syllable count) 'annoying.'

I exleft it will eventually morph into 'v-noy.'

[ifinnegan]

v. is for versus.

[WayneS]

From Good Morning Vietnam:

“Excuse me sir. Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn’t we keep the PC on the QT, because if it leaks to the VC, he could end up an MIA, and then we’d all be put on KP.”

[Poison Pill]

But thinking about it - we have been abbreviating our words for years. PDQ, ASAP, OK, FUBAR, and so on.

OMG was coined by some crusty British Admiral in a note to Churchill at the end of WWI. There's nothing new under the sun.

[BenLurkin]

OK

[Resolute Conservative]

Now it is just K.

[Ghost of SVR4]

tl;dr

[null and void]

v. is for versus.

V is for Victory.
Accept no substitutes.

[I want the USA back]

Should I be worried? Is there danger to life and limb? Will this mean the end of civilization as we know it? I’ve got to know! Worried sick! OMG. V.scary!

[reed13k]

Thank you - my first thought as well.

[GreenLanternCorps]

...-