Well, That's Fine!

While sitting at work one day 2 years ago my office phone rang and I answered. My mother's voice demanded, "Do you know what WTF means!?" I answered that I did, and she explained that she had thought it meant "Well, that's fine." So she had been using it in daily conversations, texts, and emails with people. As in, "Hey, I heard you couldn't bring a casserole to our small group potluck, WTF!" or "You forgot to buy milk. WTF!" During a teacher conference that day she had used "WTF," and was met with looks of shock from the other teachers. That is when she learned the actual meaning of WTF and called me at work, absolutely horrified. My mom, who raised two strong-willed children with nary a cuss word had been using abbreviated cuss-phrases for weeks without realizing it.

I should have known something was amiss. She had just started using "text language" in our emails back and forth, and her use of LOL always seemed uncharacteristically sarcastic and rude. For instance, I would send her an email telling her about my tough day, and she would respond with, "I'm so sorry to hear about your awful day. LOL!" or "Sorry you can't make it to dinner tonight. Dad and I will miss you! LOL!" After the WTF incident I asked her what she thought LOL meant and she said, "Lots of love, of course."

Naturally, I called everyone in my family howling with laughter to tell this story. Eventually it it got passed around so much by word of mouth it wound up being told on a local radio station. For Christmas that year one of our senior pastors got her a "Text Messaging and Online Abbreviations Guide."