Does everyone knows what is ASAP?

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goodstudent

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I understand that ASAP means as soon as possible. I want to use ASAP in my emails.

I am wonder if everyone (US, UK, AU, Canada...?) knows what is ASAP?

Thanks
 

FreeToyInside

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It's not safe to assume that everyone knows something. That being said, I'd be pretty shocked if a coworker or schoolmate tapped me on the shoulder to ask 'do you know what ASAP means?'


(not a teacher, just a language lover)
 

goodstudent

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I am not assuming everyone knows something. I am asking if the english speaking countries knows what is ASAP. For example, Mr stand for Mister. (I think everyone or 99% should know this)
 

Barb_D

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It is almost universally known in the US by essentially every adult.

Be careful how you use it, though. If you're making a request, ASAP can sound rude and demanding. But if you're the one who is providing something, then it will sound responsive.
 

SoothingDave

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I, too, think it is well understood by nearly all.

I once worked for a company whose purchasing agents would ignore anything marked "ASAP." They wanted a due date.
 

FreeToyInside

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I am not assuming everyone knows something. I am asking if the english speaking countries knows what is ASAP. For example, Mr stand for Mister. (I think everyone or 99% should know this)

I'm not accusing you of assuming anything. What I'm saying is that I wouldn't assume that everybody in English speaking countries would know it, but I'd be surprised if they didn't. Especially with the prevalence of texting and chat abbreviations, I might be surprised if anybody older than grade school age didn't know what that meant.
 

emsr2d2

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I think you're fairly safe in writing and the vast majority of people will understand the meaning. However, if you're tempted to use it when speaking, then I think it would depend on how you said it. In BrE, you actually say "Ay Ess Ay Pee" (ie you read out the initials). However, I've heard people from other English-speaking countries say "Aysapp" as if it's all one word. The first few times I heard that, I had no idea what they were trying to say.
 

TheParser

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***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, goodstudent:

I am replying because I know that you really are a "good student."

So I just had to gently remind you about a little mistake that many learners make. When you make this mistake,

native speakers lose a little respect for you. Of course, you already know the rule, but you may have just

forgotten it. The more you practice English, the less you will make this mistake.

The rule is: after do/does/did, you always use the base form of the verb. Thus, the title of your thread should

be "Does everyone know what ASAP means?"

HAVE A NICE DAY!
 

5jj

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So I just had to gently remind you about a little mistake that many learners make. When you make this mistake, native speakers lose a little respect for you.
I am afraid I have to disagree with TheParser here. Insensitive native speakers may be amused or irritated by this sort of mistake, but most of us don't lose respect.

British and American people are notoriously bad at acquiring foreign languages (please forgive the broad generalisation), and many of us have a great deal of respect for speakers of other languages who manage to communicate in English, albeit flawed English, when we cannot speak a single word of their languages.
 

goodstudent

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Just curious, outside of this forum, do most english speaking people (US, UK, AU, Canada...) would rather prefer not to communicate with someone who speaks/write broken english? I have this thinking that people from some countries would rather not talk to someone who speaks bad english.

I am happy to be corrected for all my sentences and I appreciate it. Sometimes when I write, I thought I was writing correctly, but I know my english is not good and there is some grammar or other broken english stuff that I cannot detect myself. And I think some sentences will sound funny to native english speakers as no native english speakers will actually say it in the way that I said it. I am happy to be corrected. I am here to learn. :)
 

SoothingDave

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Well, I'm sure there are as many answers to that as there are people and situations. Some native English speakers may have no experience with foreigners and have little tolerance for trying to communicate with someone with poor English skills.

But I think a lot will appreciate the effort and try to be helpful. You may not chat about current events, but if you need to ask something you'll probably find success.

I deal with foreigners in my line of work often. Believe me, their English, even if poor, is a lot better than my Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese. If they don't try to speak in English, there is going to be little communication at all.

Sometimes the grammar and phrasing is not the best, but I can usually understand what is being said or written.

Oh, and some people here do try to pronounce ASAP as if it were a word, but they are usually thought of as pretentious.
 

Barb_D

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Well, color me pretentious. I say "ay-sap."
 

Tdol

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Just curious, outside of this forum, do most english speaking people (US, UK, AU, Canada...) would rather prefer not to communicate with someone who speaks/write broken english? I have this thinking that people from some countries would rather not talk to someone who speaks bad english.

This will vary from individual to individual and I think it's hard to give a general picture. You will come across people who can't be bothered to try to understand and communicate, but plenty will.
 

emsr2d2

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Just curious, outside of this forum, do most english speaking people (US, UK, AU, Canada...) would rather prefer not to communicate with someone who speaks/write broken english? I have this thinking that people from some countries would rather not talk to someone who speaks bad english.

It all depends on the context of the communication or conversation. Personally, I love talking to people who are only learning the language. I find it fascinating and I'm always very impressed that people with even a very low level will make such an effort and can in fact make themselves understood. However, that really only goes for personal conversations.

If I'm calling my bank or phoning someone on an important matter of any kind, I get very frustrated if that person's level of English is not high enough to understand me when I speak in my day-to-day standard English. If I have something important to discuss, I don't want to have to change my use of English to a more basic level and I want to be quite sure that I am being understood. If the English being spoken back at me is poor, I have very little confidence that I have been understood or that that person is going to do the job I need them to do.

It's the main problem with outsourced call centres. There are some people in the UK who are against them simply because they think it means that jobs which could have gone to native citizens are going to someone abroad. However, the majority of people I know who have an issue with those call centres, have that issue because of a previous experience where they have endured a frustrating phone conversation with a non-native speaker where it's clear that an important matter is not being fully comprehended.
 

FreeToyInside

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I am always happy to speak with people, even if their English is broken and choppy. This is especially true when the person I'm speaking with is a native speaker of a language I am learning. When they make mistakes in English, it can give good insight into how they probably say such a sentence in their own language.

Something that annoys me to no end is when a foreigner is in America and they go to a store, and the clerk is very impatient because they speak English slowly or with mistakes, and they answer questions with rapid and sometimes slangy answers, and get angry that the person doesn't understand them. Then they start to shout the same answers at them in a loud and irritated voice. It makes me offended and embarrassed that people can be so ignorant toward foreign learners of our language, because I think Americans in general expect other people to accomodate us in English whether we're in our own country or any other country in the world. It's very annoying.


(not a teacher, just a language lover)
 

TheParser

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I am happy to be corrected for all my sentences and I appreciate it.


***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, goodstudent:

(1) "Nitpick" is a verb that means to point out every little, unimportant mistake. I never nitpick. Why? Because I know

that I also make mistakes in my posts, and usually the kind teachers here do not nitpick. They ignore my "minor"

mistakes.

(2) So I am not nitpicking by making the following observation:

I noticed that in your post, you have consistently failed to capitalize "English." I think that I have read that in some

languages, people do not capitalize the name of their language. (And they also do not capitalize the first-person pronoun

"I"!) But if you do not capitalize "English," it is really noticable.

OK, I had better stop writing before someone nitpicks this post.


HAVE A NICE DAY!
 

BobSmith

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Oh, and some people here do try to pronounce ASAP as if it were a word, but they are usually thought of as pretentious.

I disagree with this statement, for AmE. I hear both the same.
 

BobSmith

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Just curious, outside of this forum, do most english speaking people (US, UK, AU, Canada...) would rather prefer not to communicate with someone who speaks/write broken english?

This is a function of human nature, not of the language spoken, IMO.
 

TheParser

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***** NOT A TEACHER *****


I am 99.99% sure that you should say "did."

I am 80.00 % sure that you can say either "need" or "needed" in your sentence.

Thus, "I did not know that I need/needed to capitalize 'English' until now."

*****

Personal note: Until I read it here on usingenglish.com, I did not know that "Please remember" is/was more courteous

than "Kindly remember."


HAVE A NICE DAY!
 
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