A plea for full words

[JeffOverton]

The actual definition of an acronym is a string of initials that you pronounce as a word.  So FUBAR (pronounced "foo-bar") is an acronym, where FBI is just the initials of Federal Bureau of Investigation.

[muks]

smercurio_fc was right after all.It is indeed tasteless

[Wayne.C]

graziano,

SNAFU seems to have become what the dictionary would consider a slang word.  I used to work for a large defense contractor.  As you might expect, we had a lot of employees who were former military and still used some of the acronyms that applied to civilian life.  Situation normal, all fouled up seems to be a common occurance in life.  Especially in the engineering world.

[Graziano]

I know!

graziano

[MRedRaider]

I don't see a real problem with this until people start speaking this way:

"dude, n RL i m leet. PWNd FTW"

"b r b... a f k"

seriously... the first time I catch myself saying "brb" or "afk" (away from keyboard) I will relinquish my World of Warcraft account to the nearest geek I can find.

Message Edited by MattH on 07-29-2008 09:58 AM

[TCPlomp]

iThinkIWillFeedMyPostsThroughThisLittleVi.

ton

[Norbert_B]

It is my opinion that using abbrevations or acronyms is ok if they are common or, at least, very easy to find out. And, of course, if not overused.
I personally have a hard time to anser post where
- Each sentence contains at least two abbrevations or acronyms
- Words, which are written to the full extend are misspelled in a way that it causes mental diseases
- The subject or even the whole post is written in capitalized letters (considered as shouting in chats)
- The question is not asked in a way that makes clear what the user wants to know
...

I consider those participants as "generation LOL"...... but to defend them a bit: There are situations where this comes handy, even in forums we are used to smileys which are "abbrevations" for expressions of moods.....

Well, there ARE abbrevations and acronyms i am up to use:
btw - by the way
im(h)o - in my (humble) opinion
PS - post scriptum
lol - laugh out loud
esp - especially
in chats:
brb - be right back
afk - away from keyboard


Norbert

PS: I am happy that the NI forums are, in general, not a platform where generation LOL dominates.... 😉

[craigc]

I dont know about these forums but my experience of the engineering industry is that it is choc a block of TLA's, FLA's etc.  However also being a bit of a right sided mind im not sure if a TLA's or TLAs is the correct grammer.  Oh well im sure i wont loose much sleep!

Also im English so im all up for a bit of slang.. almost got sold some apples and pairs down the nuclear sub.. yours for a lady kidiver! and i'm not even from London!


Message Edited by craigc on 07-30-2008 06:37 PM

[craigc]

and if you are still lost for words have a look at this "Wind and kite" (web site)
http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/

Message Edited by craigc on 07-30-2008 06:48 PM

[corys]

Oh no! I just realized I'm part of "generation LOL"... Well, right on the edge of it, but I've ran into people my age who actually speak using those acronyms at times. Somehow 'lol' loses something when they're saying it while not actually laughing, though...