Do you find the word “university” formal and stiff? Do you often say “uni” instead? If so, then you are committing apocope: the omission of sounds from the end of a word.
The word “apocope” comes from Greek “apokoptein”, meaning to “cut off”. Many English words have become abbreviated in this way: advertisement/ad; application/app; administrator/admin; decaffeinated/decaf; magazine/mag, and teenager/teen.
What do you think of this trend? Does it make you sound sloppy? Or do you find it fab? While there is no right and wrong in such matters, one must pay attention to the context – the situation. In formal academic writing, for example, such abbreviated forms may be inappropriate. For more cred, use your head!
