[ADXA] X's & O's

[w5znjoel at gmail.com]

Early morning is a quite time for me when I can focus on a variety of topics, especially in the summer months when my morning 160 meter routine is not an option. At times a text will arrive and I’m continually confused by the overload of abbreviations used in text messages. I literally have to spend more time that its worth to figure out what the heck someone is trying to say. YMMV, FWIW, OTOH, LOL ……..WTF? It goes on and on with many I can’t even remember. There have been times when I’ve had to respond with “??????” I avoid “social media” like the plague so I guess I’m out of the loop with the current fancy lingo!

 

David Allen Coe had a nice little song years ago titled “X’s and O’s” where he sang about the abbreviations we would write on an envelope back in the day when folks corresponded by postal service mail. Letters such as SWAK, SWPAP, SDFSD, ISYIMD, and so forth. It’s a nice little ditty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63JZnezGL4A

 

My preferred communication abbreviations predate both of these, such as tnx, b4, es, c, cul, OM, GL, 73 with an “88” when appropriate, and during an intense DX pile up the frustrating “FU” for the lid calling on the DX freq. There was also a group of recognized “Q” abbreviations such as QRZ, QRX, QST, QRU, QLF, and QFA! I have a close personal ham friend and we exchange texts frequently and it usually contains our preferred abbreviations noted here, not something that requires intense thought for decoding.

 

Times change and I’m sure there will come a day when these “X’s & O’s” will disappear but for now, I’m sticking with them. 😊

 

GL es DX – 73

 

Joel W5ZN

 

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