What's with Initials?

When did our written and verbal communication break down?  When did we start using initials and numbers to communicate?  What happened to using the full word?

The first time I recall hearing initials for words was when I was in grade school.   My brother was the king of our 3 channel Television, therefore we only watched "boy" shows.  Man from U.N.C.L.E, PT109, M*A*S*H*,and F Troop.  I don't know if they were on CBS, NBC or ABC.  We didn't have PBS,CNN or FOX.  That came closer to the 21st century.  I just wanted to watch my "girl" shows, BeWitched, Green Acres and My Three Sons.  Ya, I know, My Three Sons sound like a "boy" show but those three sons were incredibly cute.  That was all that mattered to someone going through pre-puberty! The point is, my shows had real words in them!

I remember hearing the numbers of  war casualties  on TV news.  Our soldiers became a number every night. The announcers would say, " One hundred killed today."  The screen would light up of the number dead so far that year in comparison to the "enemy".  We always had less and I guess that was suppose to make us feel good.  It didn't.  It affects me now more than then.  Now I see those numbers as brothers of friends.  Brothers who were too young to die.

Initials and numbers continue to creep into my life.  Now I have yearly IEP's to discuss Hope's progress. She can get PMADE, NI,MET-R, LMTPM, MNBA, NOPM and OTHER. With the SSA  we discuss DB,FILL OUT SSA-827, use her SSN for somethings and my SSN for others.

Are you still with me?  Numbers and initials.  I can hardly keep them straight.

When I was in college, I went to the health clinic for a sore throat. MONO was running rampant on campus. I sat in the waiting room and eavesdropped on a conversation.
"What did you get?"
" I got an IUD."
"Do you like it?"
"I love it."
When I saw the Doctor, I asked to be treated with an IUD.

Initials can really get you in trouble.  Take for example that poor little old Santa Claus in Alabama, that had to get rid of his vanity license plate because it said HO HO.

Or when I surprised Tom with his vanity plates after he got his PHD.  It said DVMPHD.  People called him Dump Head. He refused to drive that car, so our daughters became the ridiculed girls at LHS.

Initials and numbers, they are going to be the death of me.
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RIP  8/30/1954------xx/xx/20xx
 BS VIP MRS MOM