Social media changed a lot of things. Even Wole Soyinka will not understand when his grandkids type stuff like BRB, SMH, etc, but it's the current trend.

I first realized I'm probably getting old when I was chatting with my 5 year old daughter on Tango and she typed 'BRB'. I had no idea what that meant and had to Google it up. As usual, Google brought up millions of meanings and one of them scared me - some chemical substance. I had to call her to ask what she's doing with BRB, she laughed and told me it meant "Be Right Back". Imagine a 5 year old teaching her dad a new brand of English.

All everyone needs to keep up is an urban social media dictionary freely available online https://topdogsocialmedia.com/social-media-dictionary/

Mbok come mean wetin

Tufiakwa!
2013 thread just hitting the front page? After 5 years....
Aru!!!!

You guys should stop the meaningless abbreviations

This is correct. Between is btwn and that’s why people make the mistake.
The one which irks me the most in this forum is ‘trash’. Nairalanders always write ‘thrash’. What the _fuck? How cheap is someone’s education for the person not to know the difference?

lobell:
Ok, I finally snapped today after seeing one more comment starting with 'between'. If I don't address this issue now I might strangle myself next time I see one.
The commentators have seen, I presume, a comment starting with 'btw' and assumed rather erroneously that it was a short form for the word 'between' and have gone ahead to use it in its long form never minding to query if the comment they saw made complete sense if 'btw' was replaced with 'between'. Plus nothing stops one from asking if one doesn't know. The Hausas have a proverb that says "matambayi baya bata - meaning, he who asks never gets lost".

Please my fellow Nairalanders if you don't understand something, anything, just ask. It doesn't make you unintelligent but rather makes you smarter for next time instead of assuming and looking like an *** or worst still leading other learners astray!
my two kobos worth!

PS: If you are reading this and have ever used 'between' in place of 'btw' please go and fix it. NOW!

How many times are we gonna tell them? Lol.
Well, one more correction...coming from you, isn't bad. I and several other people on this forum, have actually made this correction several times we saw the mistake in a thread. But there's a reason why we can't blame the people that are still translating "BTW" as "between" - the reason: some/many of them did not see or have not seen any of those previous corrections. Now you created a thread on it, but the truth is, many might still not see this correction thread. Phew.

Anyway, my final word: let's endeavor to be patient with the erring ones and their errors, because everybody does not have the same level of knowledge, or enlightenment, or exposure, or education.

lobell,
And who didn't know that?
bw= between
btw= by the way

meobizy:
This is correct. Between is btwn and that’s why people make the mistake.
The one which irks me the most in this forum is ‘trash’. Nairalanders always write ‘thrash’. What the _fuck? How cheap is someone’s education for the person not to know the difference?

I gave your post a like.

However, both words are actually correct but mean different things, looks like people conflict both. TRASH refers to GARBAGE while THRASH refers to FLOGGING OR BEATING.

2013 WTF

There's nothing like using the hash sign before and after a word or phrase

I guess you meant #EnglishTeacher....

borntobegr8t:
Very well noted...but can u also tell us the meaning of "over sabi" cos I want to know the meaning # English teacher #

I tire oo, this is very necessary to educate them

Biglittlelois:
I disagree with Op, BTW has always mean BETWEEN right from the onset, even abbreviation on phones is like that, i was actually surprised when people started calling it By The Way recently.

The point he made is that many people have assumed btw to mean between hence starting a sentence with between which has become very common.

Biglittlelois:
I disagree with Op, BTW has always mean BETWEEN right from the onset, even abbreviation on phones is like that, i was actually surprised when people started calling it By The Way recently.

You guys still don't get it do you? OK let me explain.

Recently, when people are typing, they mostly shorten 'by the way' using the acronym BTW. Then, some people do confuse this as 'between. Hence, it's not uncommon to see someone type or say a sentence using 'between' where 'by the way' is supposed to be applied. For instance, I read a post on nairaland today where a guy addressed a female Monika as 'he'. In a bid to correct the op, the female replied by typing ~in addition to her comment~ "between, I am female".

Now can you spot the grammatical blunder? I think 'between' as no business in that statement.

I have come across so many people that keep making this mistake(except it is no longer a mistake) I stand to be corrected. We all learn everyday.

lobell:
Ok, I finally snapped today after seeing one more comment starting with 'between'. If I don't address this issue now I might strangle myself next time I see one.
The commentators have seen, I presume, a comment starting with 'btw' and assumed rather erroneously that it was a short form for the word 'between' and have gone ahead to use it in its long form never minding to query if the comment they saw made complete sense if 'btw' was replaced with 'between'. Plus nothing stops one from asking if one doesn't know. The Hausas have a proverb that says "matambayi baya bata - meaning, he who asks never gets lost".

Please my fellow Nairalanders if you don't understand something, anything, just ask. It doesn't make you unintelligent but rather makes you smarter for next time instead of assuming and looking like an *** or worst still leading other learners astray!
my two kobos worth!

PS: If you are reading this and have ever used 'between' in place of 'btw' please go and fix it. NOW!

You got it all wrong. BTW is a SHORT (HAND) FORM of writing between in an English sentence. They first time I saw that was when I was in primary school, I saw it in my mother's lecture notes. In today's world of instant messaging, BTW become an abbreviations for the phrase BY THE WAY. Unfortunately, you belong to the latter.
Femi4, has also put up a better clarification with a screenshot in page 1. So you see, you need more of the bold paragraph in your quote above.

Biglittlelois:
I disagree with Op, BTW has always mean BETWEEN right from the onset, even abbreviation on phones is like that, i was actually surprised when people started calling it By The Way recently.

Sighs!!

Yes, between can also be abbreviated as btw, but what this thread is all about is the use of 'Between' where 'By the way', also abbreviated as btw is supposed to be used!!!

Context is key!

Biglittlelois:
I disagree with Op, BTW has always mean BETWEEN right from the onset, even abbreviation on phones is like that, i was actually surprised when people started calling it By The Way recently.

BTW for between is old school Nigerian abbreviation and before the advent of mobile phones.

Now, it is By The Way internationally.

Thank you. If you tell them they'll say it's between. I was already starting to think they were right.

TRUSTEDGUY:

For goodness sake,this is a chat forum not an English class

Dnt mind him, we use btw for between and its correct, any problem?

femi4:
Nonsense, In a chat world, anything can mean anything. If its not an English world, its not universally accepted to have just one meaning

Dnt mind him

lobell:
Ok, I finally snapped today after seeing one more comment starting with 'between'. If I don't address this issue now I might strangle myself next time I see one.
The commentators have seen, I presume, a comment starting with 'btw' and assumed rather erroneously that it was a short form for the word 'between' and have gone ahead to use it in its long form never minding to query if the comment they saw made complete sense if 'btw' was replaced with 'between'. Plus nothing stops one from asking if one doesn't know. The Hausas have a proverb that says "matambayi baya bata - meaning, he who asks never gets lost".

Please my fellow Nairalanders if you don't understand something, anything, just ask. It doesn't make you unintelligent but rather makes you smarter for next time instead of assuming and looking like an *** or worst still leading other learners astray!
my two kobos worth!

PS: If you are reading this and have ever used 'between' in place of 'btw' please go and fix it. NOW!

U jst embarrassed ur self with ur over sabi,