Every day, we are faced with a barrage of names. Whether it’s our own name, someone else’s name or the names of places and things around us, we can’t escape them! We may even find ourselves using these four letter words more than others because they’re just so easy to say. But have you ever noticed that many of these words sound like clichés?

We’ve compiled 8 four letter words (and what you should do instead) for your reading pleasure:

We’ll start with the word “came.”

CAME: As in, you came to my party and now we’re besties. Unless you want to have a friend for life or are just playing on words, it’s hard to find a situation where this is actually appropriate. Instead say “I’ve known” or “when I met”.

Next up? The word ‘mine’.

Mine: This one always sounds like something really big belongs to me personally - like an entire country- but that often isn’t true! If your item of choice only has two letters then that may be okay though (a pen). Otherwise stick with phrases such as “my favorite,” or even better, offer more information about the item you want to talk about.

Next up is ‘paw’

Paw: This word has two meanings, one adorable and one not so much (“to touch gently with a hand or paw”) which makes it pretty confusing. If what you’re trying to say is that someone touched something softly, then use “touched” instead; if they scratched an animal’s fur though (not on their head) then this word would be alright!

The next four letter word we’ll discuss is ‘may.’

May: As in - I may have forgotten my homework assignment but there really isn’t any chance of me forgetting anything else. Unless your forgetfulness extends past just a single task, don’t use

-You’re so Vain

The only person you should be thinking about is yourself.

I’m sorry, but I can’t focus on anything else when it’s clear to me that the world revolves around you.

It just seems like all your thoughts and actions are selfishly engineered for your own gain. This makes me feel really sad - because no one gets what they want in life by making others miserable.”

“In my experience, being vain means not taking care of myself or putting work into helping other people have nice things too.” “So next time please show as much consideration towards others as you do to yourself?”

This includes looking after physical health (like eating well), emotional wellbeing (like

-I’m not sure how to pronounce my name.

-My parents named me after a relative that they loved and admired deeply. They wanted me to carry on the family legacy, so they left this person’s name for their first born son as well.

-You can’t just change your last name! I have no idea what you’re talking about? Where do you see “Last Name” in here?

-Sometimes people are teased because of it or ask if they could be called something else instead (usually anything with fewer letters). Fortunately, there are many possibilities when choosing another four letter word from our alphabetical list of options: Johnathan or Christina would work nicely, but Georgeanne is also an option if you like that name better.

-I’m not sure how to pronounce my name.”

“My parents named me after a relative that they loved and admired deeply. They wanted me to carry on the family legacy, so they left this person’s name for their first born son as well.”

“You can’t just change your last name! I have no idea what you’re talking about? Where do you see “Last Name” in here?”

“Sometimes people are teased because of it or ask if they could be called something else instead (usually anything with fewer letters). Fortunately, there are many possibilities when choosing another four letter word from our alphabetical list of options: Johnathan or Christina would work nicely, for example.”

“As parents, we want to make sure our kids grow up confident and proud of their names. That’s why it’s important for us to know the history behind this nickname - where does it come from?”

-I’m not sure how to pronounce my name.” “My parents named me after a relative that they loved and admired deeply. They wanted me to get some advice on how I can carry on the family legacy, so they left this person’s last name as well.” “You can’t just change your last name! I have no idea what you’re talking about? Where do you see “Last Name” in here?” “Sometimes people are teased because of it or ask if they could be called something else. It’s the same as being teased for your hair or eye color.”

“There are plenty of other four letter name ones that kids can go by, like Sarah and Alice to use a few examples.”

I’m not sure how to pronounce my last name either!” “My parents named me after a relative that they loved and admired deeply. They wanted me to get some advice on how I can carry on the family legacy, so they left this person’s first name as well.” “You should really think about changing it! What do you mean? Where is ‘Last Name’ in here?” “Sometimes people make fun of us because we have an odd-sounding surname or ask if they could be called something else

- OMG, BRB.

*Note: these are only some of the many four letter terms that people use a lot without even realizing it.*

I know you’re probably thinking “OMG”, “BRB” and other acronyms have been around forever..but what is so wrong with them? Nothing! But if you’re trying to sound smart in front of someone or make your blog/email seem like an intelligent read, this might be for you. (And don’t worry about sounding old; using words properly ages us!) Below I will list some examples of how we can replace our favorite abbreviations with something more refined and give new meaning to cliches:

The first phrase above is just one example.

- I’ll call you back in a few minutes, okay?

In the below paragraph, instead of writing out each acronym that would go at the end of sentences or phrases to shorten them, think about what you could replace them with for a better sense of formality.

- I’ll give you an update as soon as possible!

- No worries; it’s not your fault.

- Here is the last draft - let me know if there are any other changes needed before we publish this to our website or release on social media channels.

And don’t worry if all these words sound old and out of date: using proper words properly just makes us seem like more mature adults in front of others and gives credibility to blogs/emails that might have been viewed by some readers initially as uninteresting without doing so (especially when writing professional correspondence). :)

See? If you want someone who reads your blog/email to take you seriously, it’s worth investing a little time in words that are more formal. - I’ll give you an update as soon as possible! I am so sorry for the delay; please know I will get back to your email or comment as soon as possible. Thank you. - No worries; it’s not your fault. There is no need to worry and there is nothing wrong with this situation-it was just a misunderstanding on our end of things. We hope we can clear up any confusion quickly and respectfully because responsibility needs to be taken by both parties involved in order for us all work out what happened that led us here at the same point in time (time zone