Pet Peeve #59: For the Life of Me I Can’t Remember What “TL;DR” Means

tldrIn my line of business–largely communicating with people online–I encounter a lot of acronyms. If I don’t know what something means, I ask for them to define it, and I usually remember it from then on.

The one exception, I’ve found, is the acronym TL;DR.

Seriously. For the life of me I can’t remember what this means no matter how many times I’ve looked it up. So I’ve gotten to the point where I just substitute any words that come to mind.

Just to let you know, as I write this blog, I have no idea what TL;DR means. I’m going to look it up after I’m finished writing this; in the meantime I’ll share some of the words that come to mind when I see this acronym.

  • Talk Later; Direct Return
  • Tijuana Lottery; Dominican Republic
  • Toast Light; Dump Room
  • Too Little; Dramatic Reason
  • Tough Liquor; Damn Rats
  • Tall Legs; Dance Rascal

Okay, I’m going to look it up for real. I bet I got at least one word right.

TL;DR = Too Long; Didn’t Read

I got “too” right!!! Woohoo!

Do you have one that I might remember better than the actual definition?

4 thoughts on “Pet Peeve #59: For the Life of Me I Can’t Remember What “TL;DR” Means”

  1. (1) Lesson for business communication. Be to the point.
    (2) Reminds me of the “Jeffries Tubes” on the original Star Trek. These were PVC tubes put all over the sets of the Enterprise that were supposed to make it feel like an actual ship. One of them was commonly labeled “GNDN” – which was short for “Goes Nowhere; Does Nothing”.

    Reply
  2. Ha! I’ve never seen this acronym before, but I massively prefer “Tall Legs, Dance Rascal” to “Too Long, Didn’t Read”. (Actually, I prefer “Tall Legs! Dance, Rascal!” [subtle difference].) I say we start a movement to alter public perception of what this acronym stands for.

    Also, it strikes me as odd that there would be enough times in life when a person would say, “Too Long, Didn’t Read” to warrant creating an acronym. To me it seems like a personal problem that one person with very little focus or patience might have had, not something with license to enter public nomenclature. If, however, the American public is giving said license to individuals, keep an eye out for “WTPS; GTT” from me about once per month (“Went to Pueblo Solis; Got The Tacos”).

    Reply
    • Trev: The punctuation in Dance, Rascal! makes a big difference–I like it!

      Yeah, I don’t know how TL;DR became a thing. I don’t see it used all that often, so it’s possible you might use WTPS; GTT just as often.

      Reply

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