ISWYDT

Someone sent me a note yesterday afternoon with “FYSA” at the top. I had no idea what than meant and come from a family where there are always yellow raincoats in the hall closet and monkeys who don’t know their uncles from other relatives out in the backyard, so, of course,  I asked.

You probably knew this-it means For Your Situational Awareness (I was told in a pedantic tone of voice). I made the mistake of wondering what the difference between it and FYI, “for your information” might be. I was told no one uses FYI anymore. Well, except me. I was tempted to respond with GFYS, but that type of behavior is considered less than adult (but FYSA is just peachy) and I have enough problems around here.

Anyway. The new wizard word that’s not a word at all but an a$$hole acronym is ISWYDT which is short for “I see what you did there.” For the record, I don’t; and I’m wearing glasses and I still don’t. I’m starting to think there’s a cottage industry, somewhere, so emboldened by the success of WYSIWYG, they’ve decided to reduce all language to acronyms.

I don’t think Bradbury, Huxley or Orwell ever foresaw this happening. They feared, instead, language being neutered and refined to distill all communicational value so that words took on common meaning that was the exact opposite of their intent-Firemen being my personal favorite even after all those decades. Who hasn’t heard some pinhead offer a dismissive “as if” and realize you have no idea what the moron is talking about (and neither do they). This is where you say “ISWYDT”. Getting it?

The wonder of acronyms and vocabulary shorthand, to a cynic such as I, is how the distraction from the intent is built into the process from the moment of use. You no longer need to listen to what I say in search of meaning and/or understanding, but, rather, at the surface in search of bright and shiny words. The day of the idea is passing and we’re well on the way to rendering ourselves mute in expressing how that should make us feel.

We’ve become inchoate imbeciles and either don’t know or don’t care. We use fewer words in our daily lives than we did a generation ago, not because we have other means of communication, but because we have less to say. Instead of living together, we tend to live along side of one another in parallel lives. What separates us has become greater than what we share. Words, long but more often shortened, are the foundations of walls instead of bridges. If you can’t be pithy, pith off. Aha! I see what you did there.
-bill kenny