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    Acronyms

    Do you hate them, love them, use them? There are various threads here where they are liberally dotted about and often I have to google.

    Here's a site I found:

    https://www.acronymfinder.com/

    I wondered if I could find a three-letter acronym which was unique to the site and on my first attempt I actually managed it: RTY: Rolled Throughput Yield (which leaves me none the wiser).

    Any acronym comments or moans or anecdotes out there? Can you find unique examples?


    #2
    Leading Caledonian Eleven lack that International credibility (6)

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      #3
      All acronyms are abbreviations, but RTY is not an acronym.

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        #4
        TBB

        the backlash begins

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          #5
          Merely a standard 'correction' I'd say.

          MASCIS. (Like him out of Dinosaur Jr.)

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            #6
            One of my RMTIs is the use, or rather the misuse, of "Acronym", when discussing things which are not "abbreviations formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word".

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              #7
              DGAF TBH M8 LMAO

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                #8
                Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                One of my RMTIs is the use, or rather the misuse, of "Acronym", when discussing things which are not "abbreviations formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word".
                RMTI?

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                  #9
                  I hate acronyms and jargon. It's all part of creating an "in club" of people who know what the terms mean and excluding newbies, or making the barrier to entry excessively high. You get it everywhere. I hate it in academia where I viewed it as people trying to sound more erudite than they really are. I hate it in teaching. My mum loves to talk about a TA (teaching assistant) or an NQT (newly qualified teacher), completely oblivious of whether the people she's talking to know or understand the acronyms.

                  I hate it in my current job which is absolutely rife with acronyms / abbreviations. If you're going to use one, then the least you can do is write the term out in full at the top of your briefing or your notes or your email, put the abbreviation in brackets and then continue using it. Anything else I consider to be rude, obstructive and a waste of people's time as people either just pretend they know what it means and don't fully understand, or waste time searching for the meaning.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Benjm View Post

                    RMTI?
                    RMTI

                    Though TBH not really RM. Not even sure about the T. Definitely an I though.

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                      #11
                      Teachers are the worst, I find, Balders. For using (work in their case) initialisms totally out of context and assuming everyone knows what they mean.

                      Teachers and OTFers, maybe.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                        I hate acronyms and jargon. It's all part of creating an "in club" of people who know what the terms mean and excluding newbies, or making the barrier to entry excessively high. You get it everywhere. I hate it in academia where I viewed it as people trying to sound more erudite than they really are. I hate it in teaching. My mum loves to talk about a TA (teaching assistant) or an NQT (newly qualified teacher), completely oblivious of whether the people she's talking to know or understand the acronyms.

                        I hate it in my current job which is absolutely rife with acronyms / abbreviations. If you're going to use one, then the least you can do is write the term out in full at the top of your briefing or your notes or your email, put the abbreviation in brackets and then continue using it. Anything else I consider to be rude, obstructive and a waste of people's time as people either just pretend they know what it means and don't fully understand, or waste time searching for the meaning.
                        Don't ever come and work in the NHS.

                        Even the sector is mainly known by its initials.

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                          #13
                          Yes, I disagree that the object of using acronyms/initialisms is creating a barrier. That might be one of the effects, but it;s not the reason why people do it. It's just to make it easier to refer to things that the people in the same field understand. It;s a problem when new people have to learn them or when they forget and use them to outsiders.

                          We say EU not because it's about excluding those people who don;t know what it means, it's just easier to use the shorthand than to say European Union every time. Or for an even more obvious example, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                            Merely a standard 'correction' I'd say.

                            MASCIS. (Like him out of Dinosaur Jr.)
                            Don't worry, I'm just quietly sulking.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post

                              Don't ever come and work in the NHS.

                              Even the sector is mainly known by its initials.
                              We're bloody awful, agreed. BUT I don't think we do it in the wild so much, not like those teacher buggers.

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                Yes, I disagree that the object of using acronyms/initialisms is creating a barrier. That might be one of the effects, but it;s not the reason why people do it. It's just to make it easier to refer to things that the people in the same field understand. It;s a problem when new people have to learn them or when they forget and use them to outsiders.

                                We say EU not because it's about excluding those people who don;t know what it means, it's just easier to use the shorthand than to say European Union every time. Or for an even more obvious example, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
                                There are some initialisms which more or less everyone knows. And when communicating with people in the same sector/interest group explanations are rarely necessary. Otherwise, clarification is often useful.

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                                  #17
                                  'Some' initialisms/acronyms are created to exclude outsiders. To suggest that 'all' are strikes me as a bit paranoid.

                                  As ad hoc says, it's as often as not useful shorthand.

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                                    #18
                                    I think that the "useful shorthand" bit is over-worked, meself like.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                                      'Some' initialisms/acronyms are created to exclude outsiders. To suggest that 'all' are strikes me as a bit paranoid.
                                      Not necessarily created, but used.

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                                        #20
                                        I don't think my sector would function without TLAs. I'd have to call a RAID review session at SMT to assess the RAG rating of abolishing them. Although it is POETS day so CBA TBH.
                                        Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 05-03-2021, 11:58.

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                                          #21
                                          What's an example of an acronym being used 'to' exclude others?

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                            What's an example of an acronym being used 'to' exclude others?
                                            Exclude is maybe the wrong word, but if we have to go googling all the time...

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                                              #23
                                              Anyway, radar is a great acronym. It means 'radio detection and ranging'. Scuba means 'self-contained underwater breathing apparatus'.

                                              That's it...that's all of them.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Sporting View Post

                                                Exclude is maybe the wrong word, but if we have to go googling all the time...
                                                We use them at work, as does everyone else of course, like OE instead of Outer Envelope and BRC instead of Business Reply Card. It just speeds up the conversation.

                                                I work on a car account that has so many of them that the account people who use them often don't know what they mean. I'm like 'then why on earth would you add it to the brief?'

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                                                  #25
                                                  Scuba is one I like, yeah.

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