In The Elements of Style, one of the finest books on writing in the English language, E.B. White and William Strunk Jr. caution writers to avoid useless and redundant phrases.

I knew a guy in college who, in mid-sentence, used the acronym “DTCFDM” as if it were common parlance. From the moment he said it, I immediately set to decode this Rubic’s cube of abbreviation. What could he be trying to tell me?