10/25/2007   English German

  Edition # 70  
San Francisco, 10-25-2007


Figure [1]: The translation of "Was bedeuten diese
Abkürzungen?" to English is "What do these abbreviations mean?>

Michael And here are some English abbreviations that have emerged in the internet age, which you probably don't know if you're not very familiar with the internet. These acronyms are mainly used in chat sessions, but they also frequently appear in emails.

YMMV stands for "Your mileage might vary" ("Ihr Kilometerstand ist vielleicht unterschiedlich"). For example, when recommending a tactic that has led to success, but you want to express that the outcome might be different if the person seeking advice tries it themselves, you say YMMV. The "mileage" is not meant literally, but rather represents a kind of "end result." For instance, if you have successfully negotiated a lower price in a store using sophisticated methods and share this clever trick, you add YMMV to indicate that it might not lead to the same result if someone has less developed negotiation skills.

When giving legally relevant advice but not being a lawyer, it is advisable to add IANAL ("I am not a lawyer") to ensure that it is understood as a recommendation from a layperson who does not interpret the intricacies of the law as reliably as a professional attorney.

IMHO ("In my humble opinion", "Meiner bescheidenen Meinung nach") or somewhat less pretentious IMO ("In my opinion", "Meiner Meinung nach") indicate that the following text should only be understood as the writer's opinion and not as an indisputable fact. AFAIK stands for "As far as I know" ("Soweit ich weiß") and conveys a similar meaning. IIRC is the abbreviation for "If I remember correctly" ("Soweit ich mich erinnern kann").

If you find something funny, LOL is appropriate, meaning "Laughing out loud." As an intensification, ROTFL stands for "Rolling on the floor laughing.

Do you want more? Then we recommend studying the website. urbandictionary.com , which explains thousands of these abbreviations in detail.

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