What is it called when two letters mean something else like mt means vacant or empty?

Answer 1

The example you gave is a variant of phonetic spelling, in which the SOUND of the given names of the letters gives the clue as to what the word is. Texters probably have their own lingo for this, as it is mostly what they use to save time while typing on tiny keyboards. The phonetic spelling of "empty" would be something like "emp-tee". Dictionaries use a more precise variation of phonetic spelling in order to provide a pronunciation guide before giving the definition of each word. GR8 is used on license plates to save valuable characters, as usually only 6 or 7 are allowed, and could be be used for either "great" or "grate", (as in "GR8FUL D") as these two words are homonyms, (words that sound alike but are spelled differently and mean different things).

Acronyms are commonly used also, and are the first letters of several words made up into a new word, but the individual letters are capitalized so that you realize that it is an acronym. NASA is an example of this. Most people no longer use periods after each letter in the acronym, as we've all learned what it means. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. probably still needs the periods, as people born after the show stopped airing will otherwise have no clue that you aren't talking about an uncle.

An abbreviation is several letters of a word that are truncated at a convenient point and are simply a custom. They often violate usage rules, but then become "exceptions to the rule", as language is correct if the people using it become widespread sufficiently to be comprehensible to others. "Gov't" for government and w/o for "without" and "N/A" for "not applicable" are common, but non-standard methods of making abbreviations. Leaving out vowels is often used, and is astonishingly effective, though the practice has lead to many interpretation difficulties in Hebrew, in the case of exact interpretations in The Bible.

if u cn rd ths u cn nm srvrs 2 is a joke on multiple levels, as it not only pokes fun at a forgettable software company, but is also a takeoff on the old matchbook advertisement that goes back at least to the 1960's for classes in taking shorthand, a now nearly useless skill in business. Transcription machines have made the task of taking dictation far easier and less error prone, allowing for less skilled workers to perform functions that formerly took months or years to learn how to do. A good shorthand secretary was once a highly prized asset to any firm.

Familiar and widely accepted abbreviations are things like m for meter, (used in scientific measurements in the metric system), mi. for miles, hr for hour, pls for please, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure out the following when they are used in their proper context:

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Imagine having to write out your address, if it weren't for the letters you could drop in Dr, Rd, Cir, St, Hwy, and especially, Blvd!

A postal code is simply two arbitrary letters that stand for a state, and is neither an abbreviation nor an acronym. As long as the symbol system used results in a unique code for each state, it is functional, if not entirely logical. The postal service in the USA uses either the first two letters of a state name, OR, the first and last letters of a state name. You can't be certain of knowing which rule was used by looking at the code. You have to examine all of them first, and then deduce which ones HAVE to follow the first rule or the second rule, and then fill in the remaining names from the choices that are left. Or, you can just memorize them all, and not worry about it.