I think we don't regularly use as many acronyms as most discussion forums -- this is a Good Thing, IMHO*. two, which are apposite for this venue: YCLIU - you could look it up YART - yet another rehashed topic
"at the very least, it will take you into some fascinating backwaters and byways"
such lovely imagery.... of course, the alligators have sharp teeth; i spent a good hour digging through the murky waters the other day trying to figure out where one of the threads was coming from. gee, i need another internet addiction like a fish needs a bicycle... oopsie, wrong thread.
and wwf, you're in good company (well, you're in company, at least... the rest is pretty subjective). i had to ask faldage what an AYLEUR was
Thanks, Max, tsuwm,& Bridget96: I'm willing to RTFM if I can find it. I have looked at Internet offerings, but you creative creatures have your own crop. I was hoping to avoid alienating of troy by asking her what IITYBMAD (should have used Edit,Copy, Edit Paste on that one)meant. Tell me, what did the face that launched a thousand ships mean by that? I was hoping some else would give a clue.
Sorry to take such rampant advantage of it, but I fell for it hard the first time, so I thought I'd try to recoup a jot or two of pride.
We had a thread on acronyms vs. abbreviations (also called initialisms, I've learned) a bit ago. Is there a specific term for collections of letters such as this one, which tend to be specific to the internet, which actually stand for a sentence (as in YCLIU) or a phrase (YART)? They seem somehow different from terms like scuba (acronym) or FBI (initialism).
Ah, yes, the old Tantalus .. for the youngsters out there it was generally a pair of glass decanters for liquor set in a (usually) silver case which was locked but left the liquor visible. Quite the little tantalizer for the thirsty. Now wwh, you wrote You are tantalizing me also, which is unkind, even to a senile citizen Is this a challenge to my position as the oldest person on the board? En garde! wow
Alienate of troy? how could you do that? IITYBMAD thread was a continuation of an other thread that had over 100 entries-- and was getting so slow to load-- But we are fun bunch-- I'm sure occationaly, somebody post something, that is a bit of a barb-- but the first time it happened to me, i also got a private message from the same person, and they explained it was in fun, and they hoped i wasn't hurt-- but i wasn't--they needn't have worried.. I saw it was a clever bit-- even if the point poked me a bit.
Jackie is a good "tone" police. She always hit the right tone-- sometime I end up sounding harsh-- i need to learn to use [rant] [/rant]-- or to use the emoticons-- which i am not really fond of... and if you go off "tone" she will gently point it out-- and smooth things over--(Thanks Jackie-- I keep reading your post to see how you do it-- I am aware you do-- but i still haven't mastered it-- some might say i haven't even been to successful in my feeble attempts!)
your use of RTFM reminds me-- i had a boss who used a old DOS application. He gave me a project, and told me to use the app. I was fine till i made a typo-- and didn't know how to undo a file i had already saved-- I peppered him with a few questions-- and suggested if i could RTFM i would be a lot happy with using the app.
He asked what does R T F M mean? I replied Read The Manual-- and almost immediately he asked " What about the F what does the F stand for?" -- the words where no sooner out of his mouth, when he realize what the F stood for-- and he blushed-- and walked away!
My problem is I can read the fookin' manual till my eyes are bloodshot and it still doesn't make sense most of the time... but that's a rant I have been on before. Your pardons asked. wow
My dear, sainted Godmother - may her memory last a thousand ages - used the initialism MYODB quite a bit. When asked what it meant she always told the questioner to mind his(her) own damned business.
Dear Hyla: I don't see much difference between acronym and initialization. What would you call "Fed" for Greenspan's outfit, or "FannieMae" for another federal entity? I used to see "GeeHaw" for a (?) federal insurance program, explication for which I can no longer recall.
I also am unhappy with seeing acronyms given as the way they are pronounced as above. At least nobody tried to pronounce IITYWYBMAD
to hyla (and others); [since shona never(?) got around to imparting his secret on this] you can chop off everything after the post number to shorten these links, thus aleviating the screen width problem. thus:
I always thought that true acronyms had to be pronounceable words: so NASA qualifies, but ROTFL doesn't, unless you really say 'rotfull' to yourself while reading
But those strings-of-initials-that-confer-meaning deserve a better name than initializations, don't they?
IMNSHO, acronyms should be helpful, not impediments to comprehension. And they should not be weapons used by veterans to intimidate,torment,bewilder,and put down the uninitiate. Fighting off temptation to neologise one to get even. wwh
wwh, as a VUD (veteran under duress), I have to say that you have been irony-deaf in responding as you did - and I even added a wink!! oh, and I agree that acronyms should be helpful, if they're used at all, and I thank you for the opportunity to expressly state that I *really dislike initializations such as IITYWYBMAD! so there.
The trouble is, I suppose, that abbrevs and initials were originally used by Victorian clerks to make life easier for copying letters (before the days of carbon paper or typewriters) They were never intended to be used in speech, and the word written "Xmas" was supposed (and still is!!) to be pronounced Christmas.
Goodness knows why we have carried clerkly expediency into verbal laziness. Maybe because we are lazy!!
The creation of acronyms and initializations from existing phrases is OK by me. It is the forced creation of phrases to create the acronyms which irritates me. Around here, grassroots organizations will name themselves the most cumbersome things, if the first initial of each word in the title makes up some word. Argh.
At the risk of fomenting YARTism, I'd add the following to the discussion. After the thread a bit ago on acronyms, I felt like there was pretty solid consensus about the meaning of the word (i.e. scuba and laser qualify, PC doesn't). This link doesn't completely shoot that down, but it leaves it more open than I'd hoped:
regarding the Maven's take on acronyms: you'll notice that this particular column is unsigned; it's from the period when Jesse Sheidlower was the sole contributor to this feature, and this response is a typically well-crafted one. I miss Jesse's contributions -- he has gone on to become "Principal Editor of the North American Editorial Unit of the Oxford English Dictionary". [his characterization]
By golly you have done it again, tsuwm, with the OK link. Not only a lot of history but the tale told me by my Dad (a newspaperman) is the version mentioned, first, from the now defunct Boston Post. Thank you wow
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I can see that it is going to cut down on my free drinks
.
but that's a rant I have been on before. Your pardons asked.
