The use of acronyms in the modern age while texting has become entirely normal. Since the coming of cell phones, communicating became more leisurely, and in recent years, texting has become all the rave, especially among the teens and the youth. There are a lot of acronyms that are used in texting and we’ll examine the meaning of POS today.
What Does POS Mean?
According to Urban Dictionary and Collins Dictionary, the acronym POS has five common meanings: Piece of S**t, Point of Sale, Parents Over the Shoulder, Positively Outstanding Service, and Part of Speech. Point of Sale and Piece of S**t are the most common meaning.
- Piece of S**t: A vulgar slang phrase for complaining about something or someone when the thing or person doesn’t meet your standards.
- Point of Sale: The place in a store where a product is passed from the seller to the customer or the hardware/software that is used to conduct a business transaction (e.g., cash register, credit card swipe machine, ATM, etc.).
- Parents Over the Shoulder: This acronym alerts the one sending the message that a parent or guardian is watching, so they should be careful what they say or do next.
- Positively Outstanding Service (also Positively Outrageous Service): A term that some companies use to reward employees for service or categorize complaints from customers.
- Part of Speech:Â Commonly used by English teachers and grammarians to describe the various words of the English language in a sentence such as noun, verb, adjective, preposition, etc.
Below are further descriptions of these acronym meanings.
Piece of S**t
When the POS full form means “Piece of S**t” it is usually used in a vulgar or derogatory meaning. This term is used to describe something awful or describe someone who has done something frustrating. The term is considered very offensive and vulgar when used in the presence of polite society.
Examples:
- Alex was called a POS by his friends after he cheated in a game of cards.
- This POS car keeps breaking down.
Point of Sale
The meaning of POS can be used as an acronym for “point of sale.” A point of sale is that part of a shop where good is passed from the cashier to customer. It can be a physical point, or it can be a virtual store.
Examples:
- The clothing store on our street set up their POS station near the exit door.
- Please swipe your credit card at the POS.
Parents Over the Shoulder
In this case, the POS acronym is used as a warning. In this digital age, many things are accessible to teens on social media and the internet. Some of this information is not something that a parent would be agreeable or comfortable with, and so by alerting each other, they avoid a scolding or a lecture from the parent. Also, teens are very private and prefer boundaries, especially when it comes to their social lives, and using the acronym ensures that their privacy is intact and their boundaries upheld. Using this slang is a warning to their counterparts not to send salacious content because a parent is monitoring their messages.
Examples:
Adam: Hello Sean, can we have a video chat today evening? I have something urgent I want to discuss with you.
Sean: Hi back Adam, I am sorry, but we cannot video chat, POS. Can we meet at the coffee shop instead and talk?
Adam: Okay then. See you in a few.
The exact time and year that the acronym started being used are unclear, but it is in the early years of the 21st century.
Positively Outstanding Service
Some companies give out POS awards for “Positively Outstanding Service” throughout the year or for particular customer interactions. Companies that have excellent customer service, including Amazon and Trader Joe’s, are more apt to give these kinds of awards.
Examples:
- We’d like to present Mr. Smith with the POS award this year.
Part of Speech
English teachers and grammarians frequently use POS as shorthand for “part(s) of speech” when editing or taking notes. According to Dictionary.com, a part of speech is “any of the classes into which words in some languages, as Latin and English, have traditionally been divided on the basis of their meaning, form, or syntactic function, as, in English, noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.”
Examples:
- Verbs are a POS that joins a sentence together.
Other Meanings of POS
- Power of Suggestion: This means that suggestive words can make people act in a certain way.
- Positive: Pos can also be used as an abbreviation for positive. Here’s an example of this acronym used in a sentence: “The doctor told her that she needed a blood transfusion from a person who is blood group B pos.”
- Point of Service: In healthcare insurance, a POS plan is a type of plan in which you pay less if you use doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers that belong to the plan’s network.
- Position
- Period of Service
- Place of Service
- Philosophy of Science
- Political Science
- Polar Orbiting Satellite
- Product of Sums
In a vastly changing world, you need to learn and understand how to use acronyms and abbreviations in the right way to avoid confusion and miscommunication.
