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Acronyms in English

Brazilians love to use American concepts, vocabulary, fashion and customs in their lifestyle. The United States is undoubtedly one of the countries with the greatest influence on Brazil, which is reflected in the way we dress, speak, the movies we watch and the decorations we choose for our environments.

We often use American references without even realizing it, as in the case of English acronyms that we routinely use and that usually have broader meanings than we know.

Follow today's text to learn a little more about these acronyms that occupy our daily lives!

OK

The expression OK is used worldwide and has some forms of interpretation, depending on the tone and context in which it is spoken. In general, we can say that OK means “all right”, “all right”, “all right”, an acronym to express acceptance.

The curious thing is that there are different stories to explain the emergence of this American expression.

The most consistent version of the origin of the expression OK comes from the Greek language. It would be an abbreviation of ola kala (όλα καλά, with the Greek characters). “Ola” means “everything” and kala means “well, right”.

Some other stories were created over time to explain its emergence, such as:

• American Civil War soldiers counted the dead daily, and marked OK when there were no dead (0 killed)
• The term would have appeared in a humorous article from the 19th century, as an abbreviation of the phrase “oll korrect”, a joke among journalists with the expression “all correct”.

SOS

The acronym SOS is famous for being used in movies and series in times of tension and despair, as a cry for help or a warning of danger. Therefore, most people associate the acronym with expressions such as “Save Our Ship” or “Save our Souls”.

The truth is that the combination of the letters SOS, incredibly, has no meaning and did not even appear on American soil. It was an acronym chosen by the Berlin Radiotelegraph Conference in 1906, precisely to be used in these emergency situations. Its use was made official in 1908.

The choice was based on the simplicity of the letters and easy memorization. Before this definition, the acronym used was CQD, which people associated with “Come Quick Danger”, despite being also an acronym created and chosen.

RAP

RAP is known worldwide as a style of music, but few people know that its name originates from an acronym, which is the abbreviation of the English expression “Rhythm and Poetry”, rhythm and poetry in Portuguese. This musical style emerged in the 60s in Jamaica, and was taken by Jamaicans to the poor neighborhoods of New York City, in the United States, only in the 70s.

The musical style gets its name because the songs have an accelerated and fast beat, and the lyrics are sung in the form of a rhythmic speech, with rhymes and poetry from beginning to end.

The lyrics contain a lot of information, little melody and often talk about the difficulties and realities of life for people living in poverty and at risk.

LOL

The acronym LOL began to be used more recently in Brazil by young people, especially with the increase in internet use and communication. Its literal meaning is “laughing out loud”, which means “laughing very loudly”, “rolling over with laughter”. Some people associate LOL with “lots of laughs”, in Portuguese “many laughs”.

The exact origin of the expression is not known, but it is known that its use began in multiplayer online games. LOL is also used as a meme, to express a person with their arms up in celebration.

More recently, LOL has taken on another meaning with the emergence of League of Legends, an online multiplayer game that has gained a lot of popularity in recent years.

XOXO

Many people use the acronym XOXO at the end of an email, letter or some other message. Its use was widespread in Beyoncé's song XO. XOXO means “hugs and kisses”, in Portuguese “hugs and kisses”, and is interpreted as a way of expressing affection when saying goodbye.

The origin of the acronym is not well known, despite being widely used. What is known is that it is a visual expression, that is, it is not an abbreviation of words or even an acronym.

It is believed that it began to be used inspired by the shapes of the "X" that would represent a person who hugs with open arms, and the "O", the shape of the mouth of a person who kisses.

BFF

Teenage girls are the group that most use the acronym BFF, in necklaces, bracelets and other accessories that express the union between friends. BFF means “best friends forever”, in Portuguese best friends forever.

The term emerged in the United States and became very popular worldwide, mainly through the internet and social networks. Its use is very widespread in Brazil, and today practically all girls have a friend that they consider to be BFF.

OMG

The acronym OMG is used to abbreviate the expression “Oh my God”, which means “Oh my God” in Portuguese. Its use spread in Brazil mainly with the “boom” of SMS text messages (short message service).

People started writing shorter SMS, reducing the most common words to acronyms, for practicality and also because, in the old days, you paid for the size of the message text.

There are a few variations of the expression, such as “Oh my Gosh” or “ Oh my Goodness ”, but they all have the same meaning. The acronym is often used to express astonishment, admiration or surprise.

I think you could see that the acronyms in English can have much more meaning than we imagined, right? It is worth getting to know them to learn a little more about our English-influenced vocabulary and its history.