SMBC Comics Forum

Edminster wrote:Actually, what you meant was an Initialism, since you don't pronounce 'FTFY' as a word. Unless you do, in which case you're weird.

I say lol and rofl out loud sometimes.

Also:

Wiktionary wrote:Any abbreviation so formed, regardless of pronunciation, such as TNT, IBM, or XML.

Wikipedia wrote:Around 1943, the term acronym was coined to recognize abbreviations and contractions of phrases pronounced as words.[15] For example, the army offense of being Absent Without Official Leave was abbreviated to "A.W.O.L." in reports, but when pronounced 'awol' became an acronym.[16] While initial letters are commonly used to form an acronym, the original definition was a word made from the initial letters or syllables of other words,[17] for example UNIVAC from UNIVersal Automatic Computer.[18] An early commercial example was Nabisco for the National Biscuit Company.[15] The word acronym itself comes from Greek: ἄκρος, akros, "topmost, extreme" + ὄνομα, onoma, "name."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialism

Wikipedia disagreeing with itself? Unthinkable!

Inorite? Anyways, to me, an initialism will always be an acronym that you say letter by letter. Regardless of the facts!

I agree with mountainmage! I also include in the definition this: things you could say letter by letter, but actually you say the original words because it's quicker. But you type the acronym because it's faster.

Ex.
"FTW!"
You (or at least I) don't say "eff tee double-you!" because that sounds stupid and is longer. If it must be said aloud, the proper form is "For the win!"

Also, you COULD say FTFY. Recommended pronounciation is "Fitify" As in, "you just got fitified!"
Alternative possibilities,
"Fitfy" As in, (roomate says) "Man I lost my wallet can I borrow a fitfy to buy pizza that I won't even share with you?"
F'in ToFu-Y As in "Ugh what the hell is this crap, f'in tofu-y foodstuffs." "Sir that's your father's ashes" "...oh... Do you have any barbarque sauce?"

I don't get how typing acronyms is gonna save me much time but then again I have an acceptable human typing speed.

It used to save me time, but now I use them occasionally out of pure laziness.

Also the meaning tends to change a little bit. If you say "What the fuck?" it typically implies a slightly angry tone, or at least appears vulgar to some people. Typing, WTF?, on the other hand, is somehow less vulgar / more casual / something like that.

It's also fun to go "lawl gg n00b, l2p" sometimes, and see some people cringe, and others go "huh?"

I can manage around 82 WPM consistently, with few mistakes.

I can probably get close to 100 wpm with consistency. The one thing I don't understand about the mistakes thing is that isn't the average typist going to go back and fix his mistakes afterward? Of course I'm going to mistype something but I'm going to fix it, and hopefully with some speed at that.

I don't believe it! (My ego won't let me...)

Prove it! http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/

Also, this site says my fastest is around 71 whereas this site said 82. I wonder where the discrepancy is.

The first type is the kind I don't like because it bears no resemblance to how people actually type, and moreover, I can't go back and correct mistakes; and if I try to, which I often do, that only makes me do worse. I got 94 words per minute, but I will admit to my 2 mistakes. On the second test, I got 93 words per minute, which I suppose might be 1 or 2 faster if I clicked that button faster. Years of minesweeper practice and I can't hit a goddamn button, gwahah.

To think, all of that comes from practice; but I have written almost nothing of substance!

I have no idea how fast I type, and I don't much care. I type fast enough. That said, I can't just leave my mistakes until the end and go back and fix them. I usually fix them before I'm done the sentence, sometimes word. I'd blame it on IMing, but I don't think that is it (plus, I think you younger ones would have more trouble with that anyways). I just like to see it flawless as I'm typing it.