When you say thanks to somebody, you’re expressing gratitude. You’re telling the person that you really appreciate what he/she did for you. If somebody has given you something without wanting anything in return (and even if they did want something in return, it never hurts to be polite) you really should be grateful. The best way to mess this up is to say “thx” or “10x” or “ty” or something like that. I can’t believe that somebody is really grateful when he doesn’t even have time to type “thanks” but instead abbreviates it to “thx” or something to save himself from typing–get this–three extra letters.

When you say thanks to somebody, you’re expressing gratitude. You’re telling the person that you really appreciate what he/she did for you. If somebody has given you something without wanting anything in return (and even if they did want something in return, it never hurts to be polite) you really should be grateful. The best way to mess this up is to say “thx” or “10x” or “ty” or something like that. I can’t believe that somebody is really grateful when he doesn’t even have time to type “thanks” but instead abbreviates it to “thx” or something to save himself from typing–get this–three extra letters.

Another thing is saying “sorry.” It’s often said that “sorry” is the most important and at the same time the most difficult word to say. If somebody doesn’t bother to type the whole word “sorry” but instead uses “sry” or “soz” etc, I can’t really believe that he’s truly sorry. It’s more like “Okay, whatever, I’ll just settle this huge mistake I’ve made by saying ‘sry.’”

And the third word, “please,” shouldn’t be abbreviated either. It’s a bit like “thanks” in advance, it means approximately “I’ll appreciate if you help me with my problem here.” It’ll send out a message saying that you’re a nice enough person and will hopefully increase your chances of getting help. Don’t mess this great opportunity up by using “plz” or “pls” or something similar.

I don’t really mind people abbreviating other words although abbreviating just to save the trouble of typing two letters is dumb. I guess abbreviating words like that is fine when you’re talking with people you know really well, and know they won’t mind, but not on some support IRC channel or forum where people donate their time to the community to help others for free. Just don’t abbreviate “thanks,” “sorry” and “please” because they’re meant to express “strong” things, gratitude and regret.

Thank you for reading this.

Matti “Lumpio-“ Virkkunen