FYI means "for your information": read this, no action needed. FYA usually means "for your action", or sometimes "for your attention", so the sender expects you to do something. Office emails are full of acronyms like these, and they only save time when the reader knows exactly what they mean.
A typical office email
A normal morning at the office: a short email marked high priority, with a few lines full of abbreviations you don't fully understand. Something like this:
To: team. FYI and FYEO: IMO, this is a big WOMBAT and we have to react ASAP before it gets FUBAR. It should definitely be an OOP script. Please meet ASAP to set up a project. Team leader TBA later in the cc of the meeting notes. HTH: the CMO is OOO tomorrow. TIA, CU, Alex. PS: PFA all you need.
What would this email say in plain English?
To the team: For your information and for your eyes only. In my opinion, this is a big waste of money, brains, and time, and we have to react as soon as possible before it gets fouled up beyond all recognition. It should definitely be an object-oriented programming script. Please meet as soon as possible to set up a project. The team leader will be announced later; you will find the name in the cc of the meeting notes. Hope this helps: the Chief Marketing Officer is out of the office tomorrow. Thanks in advance, see you, Alex. PS: Please find attached all you need.
Which one would you rather read first thing in the morning? And which one should you be able to understand? You probably gave the same answer to both questions.
Is this the secret language of an inner circle of marketing insiders? Or is it just a busy colleague who is drowning in email and forwards everything with a few short codes to keep the inbox clean?
Acronyms as office slang
For people who are new to business and marketing, many acronyms sound like a secret code. Some emails and conversations turn into a kind of abbreviated slang for insiders, and anyone who does not speak it is left out. If you want to feel part of the team, you will sooner or later join in.
But avoid two things if you don't want to look foolish: using an acronym without knowing exactly what it means, and spelling it wrong. Before you use an acronym, make sure of both its meaning and its spelling.
Beware of false friends
You need to know abbreviations in their context to understand them. Do you think you know them all? Then beware of false friends: in office and marketing slang, familiar abbreviations can take on other meanings. Some examples:
- FYA can mean "for your action" or "for your attention". If it is not clear from the email, ask the sender which one they mean.
- CRO can stand for conversion rate optimization, companies registration office, certified radio operator, or chief risk officer.
- CPM can stand for cost per mille (the cost per thousand ad impressions), certified product manager, critical path method, or certified public manager.
- CPA can stand for certified public accountant, cost per acquisition, cost per action, critical path analysis, chartered patent agent, and more.
How to spell abbreviations
Are there any rules for spelling abbreviations? There are a few, and they are easy to remember.
No space after an inner period
When an abbreviation of several words is written with periods, such as e.g., there is no space between the letters: no space follows an inner period. E.g. means "for example", from the Latin exempli gratia. The same rule applies to i.e., which means "that is", from the Latin id est. It introduces a clearer way of saying the same thing, not an example. In American English, a comma usually follows both. The post on when to use i.e. and e.g. explains the difference in detail.
Write them out when in doubt
In documents, write abbreviations out to avoid misunderstandings, since many of them change their meaning with the context.
You do not need to do this with titles that are part of a name: you write Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, and Dr. Smith. (British English usually leaves out the period: Mr Smith, Dr Smith.) Without the name, write the full word, as in "I went to the doctor" or "Hello, mister, how did you get into this locked closet?"
Some abbreviations are hardly ever written out, though, because the short form is the name everyone knows. A UPS parcel stays a UPS parcel; nobody writes "a United Parcel Service parcel".
Capitals, no periods
When an abbreviation is made of the first letter of each word, it is usually written in capital letters, such as CIA, NSA, BBC, USA, MP, CD, or UN, and it needs no periods. Most of these are initialisms: you say them letter by letter. When you pronounce the letters as one word, as in NASA or NATO, it is an acronym in the strict sense. The post all you need to know about acronyms explains the difference.
Plurals and possessives
To form the plural, add a simple s without an apostrophe: CDs, MPs. For the possessive, add an apostrophe and an s: the CD's cover, the USA's biggest cities. The post on plurals with apostrophes covers the few exceptions.
When acronyms become words
Many everyday words started out as acronyms but are now ordinary words in lower case, such as radar, laser, and scuba.
How to use acronyms well
- Learn the acronyms your workplace uses, and use them to your advantage.
- Add the acronyms you use most to your spell checker's dictionary, so it stops flagging them. In the Spell Checker, Add to dictionary does this.
- Don't overuse them, or your emails will read like a secret code.
- If you want to be funny, drop the odd piece of office slang now and then, such as "banalysis" (a trivial analysis), "bio break" (a short break for the bathroom), "wombat" (a waste of money, brains, and time), "fubar" (a mistake that cannot be fixed), or "face time" (time spent at the office just to be seen).
For more business abbreviations and their meanings, see this list of common business abbreviations on YourDictionary.