Talk:TMI

Talk / discussion
There were two definitions, both as abbreviations of different expressions, one stuck under Etymology. The etymology itself was "Unknown, possibly United States Military slang, possibly Internet slang"; simply "abbreviation" is correct both of these, though I'm sure citations of early uses would be appropriate. --Thnidu 01:48, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Transmarginal Inhibition
Transmarginal Inhibition

"Transmarginal Inhibition, or TMI, is an organism's response to overwhelming stimuli. Ironically, the popular acronym TMI means too much information, which can be a common factor of transmarginal inhibition in today's culture. "


 * http://www.sott.net/articles/show/136090-Transmarginal-Inhibition

Formal use as "too much info"
We have as sense 2
 * (informal) Too much information, an expression indicating that someone has divulged too much personal information and made the listener/viewer uncomfortable.

Information overload uses the 3 words in the 2nd sent of its lead 'graph, and TMI (even before i started messing with it) gave "Too Much Information" (implying IMO a technical rather than sardonic sense of "information") as a Dab entry (even before i started mucking with it just now). How about a technical and non-sardonic (and not necessarily "informal") use of TMI in human-factors contexts (and perhaps for AI applications, in feasibility studies, and re failure cases)? And if the non-sardonic sense is an established use of "TMI", does that make it a separate (4th) defn entry, despite the close alliance between it and the "informal" usage? And for that matter, one can ironically use "TMI" with the sardonic sense of "information", not to express any embarrassment on one's own part, but to chide (sincerely or mockingly) the other speaker for coarse behavior, denigrating it either as a risk of forming a bad habit, or because of currently present third parties. --Jerzy•t 10:37, 5 January 2012 (UTC)