A friend texted me and said she was going out for a cas dinner

I replied saying that I’d not  been to a restaurant called ‘cas’

She replied, saying that it’s means ‘ casual’

To me, that didn’t seem right to spell it that way, but neither did ‘ cash ‘ as that means something else, obviously.

So I googled it… and there’s a whole online debate about the spelling of a word that doesn’t have an obvious shortened version…. without there being a definitive answer …. but this seems to be the ‘ winner ‘,  although  that’s definitely a matter of opinion….

Caj

First, the abbreviation of a word should not be longer or more complex than the word itself. Second, it should embody something of the spirit of the word. Caj is simple, direct, and brief—Dress code: caj—but it also lends itself to languorous lengthening: The date was cajjjjjjjjjj. Thorny consonantal clusters (like in caszh and cajzh) don’t conjure the requisite frictionlessness and ease, whereas the J makes phonetic sense, has a storybook charm, and is distinctive. To be casual is to obey the rules when it suits you. To keep it loose, a little wild. That J—a little something different that nevertheless avoids fussy four-car pileups of letters—delights the eye without requiring you to dig around in alternate alphabets. (Also, fasten on a second J and the word evokes, logically, the rhyming hajj.)

—Katy Waldman, words correspondent

If you think that means I have too much time on my hands, then you may be correct. That’s what being in bed for 8 weeks does for you

But hey, I bet you lot didn’t know that, and now you do.

Ha!

Russ