Chirky: The Internet, My Cure-All

LOL
TTYL
IMO
HTH

I've been addicted to the internet ever since I had my first AOL account in high school. I quickly adapted to scores of acronyms, which while they aren't useful for my resume, they are very useful for increasing my laziness. You didn't know it could increase more, did you? It can.

I recently received an email from a friend, and above her signature were the letters "HTH."

I thought, "Is that a typo?"

HTH? What does that mean? Why would she type that? And why don't I know what it means? Then I panicked. Because there was an acronym for something, and I didn't know what. So I started guessing:

Hell in a handbasket? Ummm, no.
Had you thought of that? No - too many words.
Home to home? Uhh. No. Doesn't fit context of email.

The tiny orange Firefox icon in my taskbar beckoned me. It sat silently in the corner, smugly, taunting me with its knowledge of Internetting. I succumbed, and before I could stop myself I was typing "HTH" in the Google search bar.

HTH Students. HTH Healthcare. HTH Pool products. Maybe it was a typo.

Then the phrase Hope This Helps leapt off the page at me. I felt my pulse decelerate. I felt relieved, like I had just been told that even though I ran over my dog on Halloween and had broken six of her vertebrae, she would live a happy, healthy life.

But she didn't. Two weeks later we had to put her to sleep.

HTH

Comments

hmmm this is a phrase I do not know, then again there are many computer "lingos" that I don't know

htt (hot to trot)

Posted by: Katie | June 21, 2006 08:44 AM

OMG. (And I never use OMG.) Because: I couldn't figure out what the hell "HTH" meant, and when I saw it on your list I was all, "HTH?!?!" "Had to harass"? "Hand to hand" (combat)? Wha?

And also: YOUR DOG?? NO! Tell me that's not a true story. Please. PLEASE.

I'm going to shut my office door now and cry for you.

Posted by: Lawyerish | June 21, 2006 09:58 AM

And I thought it was bad that my gym teacher ran over my dog...

Posted by: Emily | June 21, 2006 10:15 AM

TWTSSE

(that was the saddest story ever)

I am horrible at these things... I thought that LOL was lots of laughs until Ben told me it was Laugh OUT Loud! I never know what they stand for!

Posted by: Sydney | June 21, 2006 11:30 AM

I love the fact that this made your heart excelerate. Whew! That was a close one.

Sorry about the dog... but at least you got $50,000 for it?

Posted by: ben | June 21, 2006 02:45 PM

I know I'm behind. What's IMO?

Posted by: Lia | June 21, 2006 03:15 PM

FOrget it. I figured it out.

Posted by: Lia | June 21, 2006 03:16 PM

I had no clue was HTH was until you told me. Never would have come up with Hope This Helps in a million years. I'm awful at those things. I can type faster than I can figure out how to abbreviate it.

Sad doggy story. :(

Posted by: heather | June 21, 2006 03:44 PM

IAWE.

I agree with Emily:)

Posted by: Faith in Florida | June 21, 2006 06:02 PM

ps. my email to you came back twice.

Posted by: leahpeah | June 21, 2006 06:16 PM

Jes, I was just at Ben's site and I saw all those pictures of you, and I have to say this: I can't believe you think you're overweight. You are so beautiful, and your body is really nice and well-proportioned! I know you haven't talked about your weight in a week or two, but everytime I see a picture of you, I am baffled that you think you have weight issues. That is all.

Posted by: Heidi | June 21, 2006 09:01 PM

ITSYPOBB VCAAVPL
(I too saw your pics on bens blog) (VERY COOL, and a very pretty lady)

imho

Posted by: Jayleigh | June 21, 2006 09:05 PM

hahahahahaaaaa! that is so funny. I use OMG all the time or OMW. I also use BF and STFU when I am talking to the guys and they are getting on my nerves. Is it okay to cuss if you are just using and acronym? I mean, the F could stand for a lot of things...

Posted by: eddo | June 22, 2006 12:03 AM

When you wrote HTH, I started yelling, "HOPE THIS HELPS! HOPE THIS HELPS!" like I was on a game show.

Oh god. Your dog. I'm so sorry.

Posted by: jonniker | June 22, 2006 08:56 AM

Eddo, BF could stand for a lot of things, too...

Posted by: jes | June 22, 2006 09:33 AM

I didn't get HTH either. Is the dog story for REALS?

OMW.

Posted by: AmStaff Mom | June 22, 2006 01:21 PM

i snuck in my daughters cell phone text messages because, you know, a mom has to do that kind of thing when her daughter is 15....and i did not understand about 80% of what was written - so cryptic it was.

Posted by: leahpeah | June 22, 2006 11:15 PM

Very good post. Thanks for sharing.

Posted by: Venus Howkins | January 17, 2010 01:41 AM