toesshort

Toesshort is a term used to describe a shorthand technique for turning longer phrases into compact tokens, primarily in informal writing, note-taking, and lightweight data labeling. The idea is to create a recognizable short form without retaining every word, facilitating quick reference or categorization.

The exact origin of the term is unclear. It appears in online discussions in the early 2020s as a playful coinage used to describe a rule-based shortening process. Because it is not widely standardized, different communities may apply slightly different rules or preferences when forming toesshort tokens.

How it is formed can vary, but a common approach follows these steps: remove common stopwords such as and, of, in, the; take the initial letter of each remaining key word; and convert the result to lowercase. For example, "Time of entry and exit" becomes Time Entry Exit, which yields the toesshort tee. "Memory management in operating systems" reduces to Memory Management Operating Systems, yielding mmos. "Optimization of energy storage" becomes Optimization Energy Storage, yielding oes. Some practitioners also allow limited vowel removal or minor reordering to improve readability or memorability, though this can increase ambiguity.

Applications of toesshort include quick reference codes in personal notes, lightweight tagging in datasets, and mnemonic identifiers in coding projects. Limitations include potential collisions, ambiguity, and reduced readability for unfamiliar readers. See also: abbreviation, acronym, clipping, initialism.