{"id":6060,"date":"2022-09-06T03:28:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T03:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=6060"},"modified":"2022-09-06T03:28:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T03:28:37","slug":"fwiw-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/fwiw-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"FWIW \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you desperate to give someone some well-meaning but unsolicited and potentially unwanted advice? You could soften the blow by preceding your words of wisdom with \"FWIW\". Keep reading to discover what this abbreviation means, how you can use it, and where it originated.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>\"FWIW\" is an abbreviation of the phrase \"for what it's worth\". The use of the abbreviation indicates that someone is about to share an opinion of piece of advice, typically either without being asked to or while recognizing that the information may not be relevant or helpful to the recipient.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\"FWIW\" works in any context where you might otherwise say \"for what it's worth\", but you feel like it is important to save space \u2014 often on Twitter or other social media platforms. Examples include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>FWIW, I did lose 20 pounds by exercising alone, so it's not true that you always have to change your diet to achieve your goal weight.<\/li>\n<li>(After sharing business tips.) That's just FWIW, BTW. I started my business a decade ago and things might be different now.<\/li>\n<li>FWIW, I heard that interest rates are going to continue to rise, so that five percent interest rate might actually work out being favorable for you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>Like many abbreviations that people tend to take for granted these days, FWIW likely emerged during the early days of the internet and SMS messaging. \"Forth what it's worth\" already having been a fairly common phrase before this time, \"FWIW\" was an obvious way to shorten it \u2014 simply by taking the first letter of each of the words, without the \"is\", which is part of the contraction \"it's\".<\/p>\n<p><em>Urban Dictionary<\/em> first defined FWIW in 2003, but it is very likely that the abbreviation was in use even in the 1990s. Today, FWIW is more common among an older generation of internet uses, namely those who might still enjoy having long discussions on old-school forums and on <em>Facebook<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen whether the phrase \"for what it's worth\", and therewith also the abbreviation \"FWIW\", will be taken up by younger generations in the future, or whether the abbreviation will eventually go extinct.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to FWIW<\/h2>\n<p>Instead of FWIW or fort what it's worth, you could also say:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Just my two cents \u2014 Used to indicate that the speaker or writer just wants to add his or her opinion to the discussion, without any pressure.<\/li>\n<li>Take it or leave it \u2014 Used to signify that you don't expect the recipient of the message to heed your words.<\/li>\n<li>IMO, which stands for \"in my opinion\", and the variation IMHO (\"in my humble opinion\") are both possible substitutes for \"FWIW\" as well, and these are more popular with younger generations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to FWIW<\/h2>\n<p>There are no direct antonyms. Should you be sharing a strong opinion or a piece of advice that you believe must absolutely be followed, and you do not want the person reading your message to \"take it or leave it\", you could simply omit \"FWIW\" and say what you have to say.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is the Correct Phrase?<\/h2>\n<p>The correct abbreviation is \"FWIW\", and it stands for \"for what it's worth\".<\/p>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Great FWIW Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>FWIW, meaning \"for what it's worth\" can be used to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Add a level of politeness to your advice or the opinion you are sharing.<\/li>\n<li>Indicate that you are only sharing your personal experience.<\/li>\n<li>The recipient of your opinion or advice should feel free to learn from what's useful to them, while discarding the rest of your message.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As such, <u>it would be incorrect to use FWIW before a very strongly-worded opinion<\/u> in which you make it clear that you believe that anyone who disagrees is wrong.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Say FWIW<\/h2>\n<p>You could use FWIW to let anyone reading your message know that you are polite and you understand that your opinion or advice may or may not be valuable to them. In a more formal setting, such as a letter or even an email, you would be encouraged to write the abbreviation out, so that it reads \"for what it's worth\" instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you desperate to give someone some well-meaning but unsolicited and potentially unwanted advice? You could soften the blow by preceding your words of wisdom with \"FWIW\". Keep reading to discover what this abbreviation means, how you can use it, and where it originated. Meaning \"FWIW\" is an abbreviation of the phrase \"for what it's [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6060"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8346,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060\/revisions\/8346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}