{"id":12766,"date":"2014-01-17T15:01:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T22:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/?p=12766"},"modified":"2022-08-30T09:36:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T14:36:52","slug":"asap-fyi-idk-which-acronyms-are-safe-to-use-in-business-and-when","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/asap-fyi-idk-which-acronyms-are-safe-to-use-in-business-and-when\/","title":{"rendered":"ASAP, FYI, IDK: Which Acronyms are Safe to Use in Business — and When!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"how<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are some acronyms that are safe to use in business communication and some that are not safe. Knowing which ones you can use in your business communications<\/a>\u00a0will reassure you and your employees when you go to draft an official email or letter. Here are a few hard and fast rules to follow when using three of the most frequently used acronyms in business: ASAP, FYI and IDK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASAP<\/strong> \u2013<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is one of those acronyms that has been around so long it\u2019s actually worked its way into every day, conversational language. Sometimes, it\u2019s even pronounced as its own word: \u201cAysap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you spell it out or speak it phonetically, the shortened version of \u201cAs soon as possible\u201d is one that is perfectly acceptable when composing interoffice messages. However, if you\u2019re dealing directly with a client and you want to put your best foot forward with them, consider going to the trouble of actually typing out the words. Conveying to someone that you will contact them \u201cas soon as possible\u201d simply sounds more professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FYI<\/strong> –<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The English language shorthand way of saying \u201cfor your information,\u201d FYI is one of those phrases that\u2019s so firmly entrenched in our culture that you might not think twice about using it in business communication. People hear FYI and don\u2019t even have to think about what they\u2019re being told. However, using it in a sentence can be tricky because no matter how you frame it, it looks and sounds informal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you weave it into a sentence, consider your audience. If you\u2019re composing an email to a co-worker or an interoffice newsletter<\/a>, using FYI is entirely appropriate. In an official communication to a client? Not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IDK<\/strong> \u2013<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are acronyms that are safe to use in business, and acronyms that are just bad taste. IDK falls into the latter category for two distinct reasons. First, it\u2019s shorthand for \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d \u2013 three words you never want to use when discussing business matters with another party. Second, it\u2019s a slang phrase that\u2019s right up there with LOL and OMG in the lexicon of frequent phone texters. Just as you\u2019d never consider including abbreviations like B4 (before), JK (just kidding) or L8R (later) in a professional communication, IDK should be strictly reserved for after-hours text chat with your BFFs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you’ve got that down pat, visit Paper Direct<\/a> for all your business stationery<\/a> needs including business cards<\/a>, brochures<\/a>, custom envelopes<\/a>, and lots more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are some acronyms that are safe to use in business communication and some that are not safe. Knowing which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[420,421,106,423,422],"class_list":["post-12766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-promotion-techniques","tag-business-communication","tag-business-letters","tag-business-stationery-ideas","tag-office-etiquette","tag-workplace-emails"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12766"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12766"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19341,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12766\/revisions\/19341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}