info

Anyone else noticed the use of the word 'info' instead of information? I'm getting annoyed at adverts on TV again!

Is this supposed to be a new trend? >_> I've been seeing/hearing/using "info" my whole life... Just depends on the setting.

At least it's obvious what 'info' stands for. I often use 'gen' but just now had to look up where it came from (general 'info' according to one dictionary).

I always assumed "info" was WWI slang, but the first example in the OED is from a 1907 American newspaper, so it obviously goes back further than that.

I stand corrected - but I still don't like it!

>5 oldstick: I agree. I'm often tempted to use the shortened word, but I always kick myself into the extra tiny bit of effort to write the extra 7 letters. It suits my feel for correctness.

So 'info' is bad but 'advert' is ok?

Advert? Why not ad?

I prefer Advertissement pronounced a la Clouseau..

The shortening to 'info' is just an early example of the degradation of English into txtspk. The most appalling similar distortion appears frequently in one of the UK soap operas, in which 'definitely' is mangled to 'deffo'. Our antipodean cousins have another excrescence, mangling 'afternoon' to 'arvo'.

aggro?

>8 jjwilson61: Or TV instead of television. People shorten words. appartently even people who don't like other short forms.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for "arvo" - I think it adds something. An "arvo" is more than just an afternoon. It's a time for putting on your thongs and sitting down in the shade of a jolly swagman to watch the passing billabongs (or vice-versa), not a time-slot in your work diary...

I've heard people in England saying "this aft" for "this afternoon" - that really grates.

>13 thorold:

My you must hang out in some hipsterish circles - I've never known anyone to say "this aft" or any of the other current shortenings like "totes amaze".

I frequently use 'ning as a greeting. It works in the morning and the evening :)

>14 andyl: Some say "this aft" where I live. "See you safternoon" is a common expression.