Ever since we all started texting, all communications these days can include a healthy dose of acronyms.

There are a lot that I personally don't even catch right away and have to look up. The other day I read "YMMV" and had to go look it up - it’s "Your Mileage May Vary". So, they saved 1.5 seconds typing and I spend 30 seconds to find out what they meant. Language is for communicating; when people use too much shorthand it defeats the purpose.

Some other abbreviations are simply annoying. LOL or ROTFLMAO got old almost immediately.

But there's one that's persisting, even in work situations, that isn't merely irritating. "TL;DR" is "Too long, didn't read." That somehow manages to display smugness, laziness and unprofessionalism in just 5 characters.


Origin

TL;DR started as a genuinely useful shorthand in long technical discussions,

It was originally used by the author of a long post, placed at the end (or top) as a courtesy summary for readers who didn't want the full wall of text.

Over time, TL;DR evolved into a juvenile and dismissive reply used by readers, not authors. It basically means, "I didn't bother reading this."


What It Says To Me

When I see that, I jump to some immediate conclusions about the person using "TL;DR":

Impatience
Anti-intellectualism
A refusal to engage with nuance

I'm hardly anti-acronym. It's helpful and accepted when texting to use common ones that save time. "BTW" is a great time saver in a text, saves even more time if it's lower case as "btw". But that's because I'm assuming that the reader knows BTW or can quickly get in context. Again, the point of language is to actually communicate ideas; so, know your audience.

And we've all sped up in general:

Internet culture rewards brevity
Attention spans are shortened
Long explanations became socially penalized

I don't mind TL;DR because it's an abbreviation. It bothers me because it's catty. And professionally, it makes me doubt the intelligence, interest and diligence of the person I'm talking with.


In Text Messages Or Message Boards

TL;DR in quicker messages is a little annoying and has plenty of snark.

Lots of abbreviations like this just come off mean. "RTFM" for "Read The Fucking Manual" is an aggressive way of not answering somebody's question. SMH for "shaking my head" is just an asshole move.

Here, TL;DR seems to signify an attitude of "I have more important things of reading that thing in its full context."


In Professional Environments

In a text with a friend, it's just merely a little irritating. But in a work response (which I have seen), it's just plain unprofessional.

If a document or email was put in front of somebody at work, the sender did it because they felt it was germane to what the sender and reader is working on. A response of "TL;DR" really just stands for "I'm not interested enough to be good at my job."

I've sent considered responses to requests, only to see they weren't read. Sure, email can be too long and we can all do better. But my document or email was written to help them understand something and/or do THEIR job better at their request, and still they don't read it.


The Semicolon

One quick mini-gripe I have about "TL;DR" is the punctuation in the middle of it. If an acronym is about time-saving, the people that take the time in a text to capitalize TL, then switch to character mode, hit semi-colon, then go back, hits caps lock again before finishing is simply amazing.

Who is that anal to do "TL;DR" with capitalization and a semi-colon, but smugly lazy enough to actually not read something?


Don't Use It About Your Own Content

As I said above, this first surfaced as a summary from an author. It was a stand-in for phrases like:

"In short:"
"The takeaway:"
"Bottom line:"
"Key point:"

Those respect the reader, the author and the writing - without devaluing a lot of what came before (or after if putting at the top).

In thoughtful writing (especially blogs, essays, or technical explainers), TL;DR can undercut the author, suggesting the main content is too long or not worth the reader's attention. You're better than that. Don't do it.