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Wed 12 Dec, 2018 01:29 pm
I don't have enough memory retention to know what all the initialized names for agencies, people and causes are, in articles and people's posts. I have to Google constantly just to figure out what topic it refers to and often just skip reading altogether. Would it kill somebody to spell it out the first time before referring to it by initials only?
Years ago, I attended a meeting at the home office of the company for which I worked and they sprung a test on us just for the hell of it. They gave us a densely printed test of common terms used in the industry by initials only, because that is how they are often commonly referred to. There must have been a hundred. I took a look and my mind went blank, faced with all these letters and numbers. I did not know many of them, it's true. But even the ones I knew became unfathomable and I handed in a blank sheet. Nobody questioned me over it. In fact it seems likely nobody bothered to even look at what we individually came up with.
I couldn't be the only person who would appreciate that courtesy of being provided with a reference point at the first, could I?
The rule here at the Widget Factory is that you have to write it out in full
the first time you use it. For example, you would write "Sensor Control Unit
(SCU)" the first time you used it, and "SCU" from then on.
I also notice that the initials some times have more syllables than the actual words. I think I'm supposed to be impressed.
It's certainly not getting any better through nonsense such as texting and elsewhere as more people seem to just use initials or letters instead of actual words.
a few examples:
LOL
IKR?
GMAB
BRB
I appreciate that some are never lost in this neverland, but my brain just don't work like that.
@Sturgis,
LOL
I thought that referred to Land O Lakes butter at first. Thought the guy I was getting to know online thought I was buttery. what? ohhhhhhh
I once LOLed a woman from Abuzz in an email. She was shocked that I made a brazen comment. After we discussed it she was ok.
Back in the 80s when I was a student I did a parachute jump. The instructor lamented the creeping Americanism that meant initials were being used a lot more and that the drop zone was now referred to as DZ.
I didn't give it much thought, but I think America initialises more while we shorten terms. TV, telly, VCR video. Even when I was a civil servant and used their jargon it all tended to make words or acronyms. Child Benefit- Chib, Pay in lieu of notice PILON. Actually the civil service uses a **** ton of acronyms.
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