I recently received a press release that featured five acronyms in the first three paragraphs.

Only two of those were commonly recognised, NSW and CEO - that's New South Wales and Chief Executive Officer. The rest were shortened versions of new terms used for the specific message of the press release at hand.

And in a further twist each acronym was provided in the first instance with the fully spelled out term in brackets for anyone not familiar with descriptive letters.

FYI (For your information) this is how it was done.

It was then that I realised the English language was being turned on its head.

Although I must admit that I may be a little late to the party as far as this realisation is concerned.

FB (that's Facebook for anyone who is not sure) and other social media have been serving up this shortened form of communication for some time.

In fact, it is a language that anyone under the age of 30 seems to master perfectly.

Even cursing is commonplace with the use of acronyms - I'm sure you recognise such shortened terms - but fewer people seem to be offended.

Well I'm usually not offended, although there are times when I am trying to determine whether or not the shortened term at hand is in fact a form of swearing.

All I can say is that I am fortunate to have children who have helped me navigate this strange new world of language. There are many occasions when I have had to ask what the letters in a message mean.

I understand that shortening words or terms to a simple letter or two, or three is much easier than writing things out in full in a text message. However, I fear that the shorthand version may be dumbing down our society to a point where some people can't even spell words in their entirety.

TBH (to be honest) acronyms have been around for a long time - AKA (also known as), asap (as soon as possible) and FYI are some that quickly spring to mind - but has the concept gone too far?

WTS (watch this space), I will BRB (be right back) or TTYL (talk to you later) with another opinion at a time TBA (to be advised).

In the meantime I may be AFK (away from keyboard).