PS

You've seen this abbreviation.

PS

In a physical letter, an email, a blog post, or other social media post.

The American version is with the periods:

P.S.

The emoji version:

🪠🪑

⬆️ That means plunger seat, no debate. I'm broadening the meaning. All by myself, as Eric not Cartman sang that, fortunately it was Eric Carmen. It is quite not similar to "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone" 🎵 performed by Allan Holdsworth on a tabla. Oh yes, it has some sort of C sharp diminished suspended 4 add 11 chord somewhere in its refrain, with a tabla.

For example:

Oi Guvnor,

Blimey, what a right kerfuffle that were, innit! Cor blimey, the whole bleedin' shebang went proper pear-shaped, didn't it. Absolute shambles from the off, like. Nowt but a load of gobbledygook and codswallop from start to finish, if you ask me. Chuffed to bits we legged it sharpish before the whole bleeding rigmarole went completely tits up, aye?

Anyroad, chin up, cock. Keep yer noggin screwed on straight, don't let the blighters get proper narky wiv ya. Bob's yer uncle, sorted.

Yours in perpetual bewilderment,

A Proper Numpty

———

🪠🪑: Dear me, who wrote it?

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Timeline

It was directly taken from a Latin term, post scriptum.

The earliest recorded use of "PS" in English is attributed to a 1523 letter by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, advisor to King Henry VIII. (More on UK Essays.)

Timeline:

People talked and wrote without apparent consensus. ⬇️ Romans happened. Nicked things from the Greeks mostly and standardised their own things. ⬇️ Holy Roman Empire happened. ⬇️ Voltaire glanced at that sideways. With his torso perpendicular to the ground. Meaning, standing. Whilst writing. Because too much lying down, would be ... too much. ⬇️ "Post scriptum" was there. ⬇️ To English as "post script". Abbreviated as "P.S." ⬇️ English mashed the term as one word: "postscript". Still using "P.S." abbreviation. ⬇️ English advanced itself, "Drop the periods!" ⬇️ "PS" occurred. Still with that one word "postscript". ⬇️ The Americans said, "We'll stay with the periods!" ⬇️ "P.S." is intact in American spelling. Still meaning that one word "postscript".

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Meaning

Essentially, PS (postscript) means afterthought. Yes, one word. No no, not

"after thought",

that's peasant talk.

It's "afterthought". ONE WORD, m'lord.

⬆️ "Peasant talk", Latin went through the cycle. Once as a holy language, spaced, separate words, dignified mostly. Greek somewhere just sips tea unbothered. The Phoenician simply packs their purple dye for export, We're the purple people, said those "Greeks". Oh, those British Museum lads with their naming. ΦΟΙΝΙΚΕΣ my foot. Derailment stops here.

Or in its very intrinsic: "Oh, I forgot something."

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Compounding

Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft: Danube steamship company (German, I mean the meaning is in English, the term is German).

⬆️ The immense word Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft with its three consecutive f's and "mpfsch". To a melon such as me... lon 🤔 that looks as though someone smashed their noggin onto a keyboard and be done with it.

(Melon.) Be done with it!

(Centipede master.) (...) Done!

(Melon.) Let's see. It says... (squints) do now damp f-shift farts gazelle shaft.

(Centipede master.) Ja.

(Melon.) Yes.

English, well, still has that compounding instinct heavily from the Anglo-Saxon Germanic roots. We can't run away completely from the roots, now can we? That's like a branch jumps from its main trunk and "NYE NYE NYE". That shouldn't happen... often. But English at least has the decency to stop at two words usually. Still...

PS: Maybelaterwewillhavethissortofphrase.

👀 AAAHH! Did you see that centipede?

PS: Iscentipededeliciousforbarbecue?

👀 AAAHH! Did you see that centipede?

You know, English doesn't care about your logic, your consistency, or your feelings. It never did. It just barrels through history squashing words together and leaving abandoned abbreviations scattered about like empty crisp packets.

Why was it started from Latin? — you may ask. Well, because that was the lingua franca of the educated people back then. Which ironically, "lingua franca" is also Latin.

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Others

Also abbreviated as "PS":

• PlayStation
• Photoshop
• Public School
• Police Sergeant
• Private Secretary
• Power Supply
• Public Service

More technical:

• Power Steering
• Paddle Steamer
• Prompt Side (theatre, stage left)

"Ps" — British slang for "Pounds", money, quid.

Imagine we put "PS" but the meaning weren't "postscript", but rather, one of those others. 🤔 I mean for a letter or a post. Not for an oinment, because we can't use "PS", those letters, directly as an oinment. For instance:

Dear Esteemed Dealer of the Computer in Tesco,

My computer won't turn on when I press the power button.

I need an assistance. Free is preferable.

I may or may not check the power cord.

———

PS: 650W.

Computer dealer in Tesco started as such:

(Lurking suspiciously in aisle 7, hoodie up, glancing over his shoulder past the baked beans.)

👀 👀

PS. Psssst. Oi mate.

...you looking for something?

Got some VGA cards. Barely used. Might have some driver issues but we don't talk about that.

Fifty quid. Cash only. No receipt.

Trust me.

That's how it started.