Dictionary

All beginnings are difficult and therefore it is not quite simple for some of us European interns to get used to the "full-fledged" American cuisine. But the U.S.-food is quite too delicious to blackball it and ahead of schedule you find yourself in one of the famous hamburger stations. We also adapted ourselves quickly to the American way of driving and the advantage of a Michigan U-turn became clearer every day.
After spending an afternoon at the Comerica Park, watching the Tiger’s playing baseball and keeping our finger’s crossed for them during the World Series, we joined the everyday life of Americans also in sport respects.
The invention of drive-trough was never a problem for us foreigners and eating outside? No sweat: We just copied the way of how to behave in a restaurant (waiting to be seated, refills, never forget to tip!) from our fellow citizens…

The only thing what gets us still really confused are these strange letter combinations in the day-to-day correspondence….

To save all future interns and other foreign blog-readers from this kind of helplessness while reading a (e)mail, we present you the code for the American argot (see below):

LOL = laugh out loud

TTYL= talk to you later

BTW = by the way

CGG = crazy German girls (thanks, Maggie :)

CYA = cover your ass

BFF = best friends forever

ASAP = as soon as possible

LTR = long term relationship

OMG = oh my gosh

FYI = for your information

BRB = be right back

J/K = just kidding

NM = never mind

AAMOF = as a matter of fact

AFAIK = as far as I know

AYT = are you there?

BBIAB = be back in a bit

CU = see you

DIY = do it yourself

EOD = end of discussion

F2F = face-to-face

G2G = good to go

GJ = good job, great job

GL = good luck

H&K, HAK = hugs and kisses

HTH = hope that helps

IDK = I don’t know

IOW = in other words

OTOH = on the other hand

OOTO = out of the office

NRN = no response necessary

LJBF = let’s just be friends

TBH = to be honest

TGIF = thank god it’s Friday

TNX = thanks

WUF = where are you from?

YW = you’re welcome



Linda