Jargon Buster Quiz. What’s Your AQ Score?

Are You FUWA? (Fed-Up-With-Acronyms) as you sit there WFH (Working-From-Home)?

Yes, I must admit, my AA (Acronym-Anxiety) has returned because Acronyms, like a virus, are on the rise again.

And if, like me, you worry you might feel FOMO (Fear of missing out!).  Don’t. You can take the quiz below to make sure you’re up to speed!

We’d had COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) and the QR Code (Quick Response) you know the track and trace square thingy you scan with your phone?  You also know your R number (Reproduction number spreading Covid-19) and who ‘WHO’ is (The World Health Organisation).

Yet there are so many more!

Don’t panic. If you want to be ahead of the game – you can find out your AQ – (Acronym-Quiz) score below….(take the quiz at the bottom of this article).

My fear of acronyms first started at the BBC when I joined in 2001.  The BBC (That’s the British Broadcasting Corporation) is known for being one of the world’s most trusted communicators, right?  Hmmmm.

It all started when I was employed as a BJ.  Come on, you know what that is, you ignoramus…a Broadcast Journalist of course. Doh! The funny thing is, I was actually a ‘Producer’ but for some reason P, wasn’t on the staff acronym list!

I remember I was encouraged to go for the SBJ – (Senior Broadcast Journalist) role and I had to go through this grueling panel interview.  I did get the SBJ position even though I was technically a “Senior Producer” but SP wasn’t on the list either.

I remember sitting in the studio and hearing my colleagues whispering about “BH” and the “Ass-Ed” and what about the mysterious Obi?  I wracked my brains and wondered…

“What’s BH? ….and What’s Ass-ED? (Sounds a bit rude!)”

I was too afraid to ask.  I kept quiet in the SMT (Senior management team) meetings and felt a total fool.

What could BH stand for?

I literally couldn’t think of anything other than Benson & Hedges, the cigarettes I used to buy in packs of 10 when I was a rebellious teenager in West London. And when I looked it up, all I could find was BH - BIG HUGS!

Do you know what BH stands for?

Bloody Broadcasting House! (Minus the “bloody” – or it would be BBH)

Have you ever seen W1A on TV? (The BBC satire set in BH!).  You can imagine, the jargon spoken in that series is just the TOTI (Tip-Of-The-Iceberg!)

Oh yes Ass-Ed?  Stands for “Assistant Editor.”  And Obi wasn’t anything to do with Star Wars, they were talking about OBs – “Outside Broadcasts!”

No wonder I was intimidated by acronyms. I really did secretly feel stupid a lot of the time.

How’s your acronym-ometer setting? You can test yourself in a moment!

Psychologists will tell you that codes, jargon and acronyms in organisations are a way of keeping you either ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the inner sanctum - the tribe. Humans can’t help being ‘in the know’ and keeping outsiders away from the inner circle.  If you don’t know what “they” are talking about, you feel like an imposter.  No wonder imposter syndrome is rife in some organisations. 

As someone who speaks and runs communication masterclasses in organizations all over the world – I’ve experienced jargon in every sector, and my experience at the BBC is no different from anywhere else.

The irony is, as a broadcaster you are taught to ‘never assume’… never assume the viewers and listeners know what you are talking about.  For example, you’d never just say on the news ‘Obama’ , you’d say in full

“Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States of America”.

 LOL (Laugh-Out-Loud) funny how that was the on-air rule, yet behind the scenes at the BBC it was a bit more ‘inner-sanctum’ at BH.

What have I learnt?

Never be afraid to ask the obvious. It’s what I help my clients do.

“What does PSF mean?”

By the way (BTW) that’s ‘Professional Services Firm” STOOOOOPID! (Could be Petrol Station Flowers depending on where you are!).

So the big tip here is; just ask!

Let’s see what your AQ score is (Acronym Quiz) – for a bit of harmless fun. Plus, this will keep you in the know for when your teenagers and team members bamboozle you with GOATs and YOLOs…

Take the 20-Question A-Q – Acronym Quiz….

1 – WFH

2 – LMK

3 – PTD

4 – PSF (mentioned)

5 – PSL (mentioned)

6 – SMT

7 – BA

8 – PA

9 – MA

10 – SBJ (mentioned)

11 – GOAT

12 – ATM (keep it clean)

13 – BFN

14 – KISS

15 – BRB

16 – BTW

17 – YOLO

18 – GAL

19 – OHIO

20 – TLDR

(answers at the bottom)

Please do send your funny, silly & annoying acronyms to me. esther@estherstanhope.com.

BTW (by the way)

If you need your team to communicate with more IMPACT & CLARITY in one of my masterclasses!  I’d love to help.  Drop me line. esther@estherstanhope.com

PS. Here’s a great article on acronyms by Perkbox (where I got OHIO and TLDR from)

My head is exploding… in one week, I’ve come cross all these….

1-     WFH – working from home

2-     LMK - Let me know

3-     PTD – Personal Dev Team – Period to Date – or Permanent Total Disability or Professional Truck Driver

4-     PSF – Prof Service firm or Price Per square foot – Petrol Station Flowers (Urban dictionary)

5-     PSL – Professional Support lawyer or Pakistan Super League

6-     SMT – Senior Management Team, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, Shreemati (an Indian feminine honorific) or  Society for Music Theory or even Shanghai Maglev Train

7-    BA – Broadcasting Assistant (in a studio) or Business Analyst (in an office)

8-   PA – Production Assistant (in a studio) or Personal Assistant (in an office)

9- MA - Market analyst – Master of Arts, Massachusetts, Mature Audiences (TV program ratings)

10- SBJ – Senior Broadcast Journalist (or something very rude) you could also have Standing Broad Jump (athletic event), Sweet Baby Jesus, Sport Business Journal

11- GOAT – Greatest of all time! (as used on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing show)

12- ATM - At the moment

13- BFN - Bye for now

14- KISS – Keep it simple, stupid. Ouch. But, you have a point.

15- BRB - Be right back

16- BTW – by the way

17- YOLO – You Only Live Once (my 15 year old’s favourite)

18- GAL – Get a Life!

19- OHIO - Only Handle It Once. (Managers use this when they don’t want staff to spend too long on a task apparently – explained in the article below)

20- TLDR - Too Long, Didn’t Read. I can imagine my legal clients get this a lot!