Acronyms

[Patrick Thistle]

Sorry Balders. I wanted to see if abbreviations that are everyday to me are widely understood in OTF-land. Now I know they're not, I'll refrain from using them. FBPE means Follow Back Pro Europe by the way, it's an identifier adopted by lots of Twitter accounts after the Brexit referendum.

Ha. I thought it meant Fuck Brexit Pro Europe.

Follow Back? People.still.do follow backs on Twitter? What is this, 2009?

[Eggchaser]

I got a note from Legal today asking whether it was 'best practice' to spell out 'All-Wheel Drive' instead of using the brand-standard AWD. I said that you can't assume that everyone is a 'car guy' and knows what AWD is in the first mention.

If they were proper lawyers they would have known that the answer is to put it in the definitions clause and then use whatever term you defined it as.

I was going through some old files to get some historical perspective on the murky goings on of the ownership of some agricultural land today, and came across a Declaration of Trust over some land being transferred into a trust. My old boss, now retired, had drafted it, but even without seeing his initials on the front sheet I could tell it was his drafting. At the start of the document you usually put Recitals, a sort of potted history of events to date, or refer to a schedule later on in the document if a lot has happened. I could tell that this was a complicated situation, even by his experienced standards, because he started with the phrase he always used when it was a Gordian knot, "In the events which have happened..."

[Patrick Thistle]

Sorry to disappoint, Toby Gymshorts but COBRA was a deliberate naming decision based on the room. It was concocted by Alastair Campbell. IIRC he got some flak for claiming credit for the crime on Twitter.

I had a delightful conversation last month where someone referred to receiving electronic mail. Took me a while to work out what he meant.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Not a backronym, then, but an acronym coined by a prick. Not sure which is worse.

[tee rex]

In some old films (can't remember which) the UN is referred to as "yoo-no", as in UNO, not the now universal "you-enn".

[ursus arctos]

UNO was used rather widely in the organization's early years

[Various Artist]

"Veto" there referring to the Victory-Ensuent Trade Organisation, of course.

[DCI Harry Batt]

we'll agree to disagree.

Hehe.

I know we've not actually met, but...

[tee rex]

The card game UNO was invented in 1971 (in Ohio, it says here). It doesn't seem like there was any connection made or intended, so UNO as United Nations Org was evidently dead by then. Unlike UNICEF etc.

[ursus arctos]

Though it persists in a number of Romance languages that use ONU

[Various Artist]

My brain took the salient words from that comment and has somehow jumped to the conclusion that that's the cover of a romance novel set at the UN.

[WOM]

That's Love In The Time of Resolution you're thinking of.

[Gangster Octopus]

Not a backronym, then, but an acronym coined by a prick. Not sure which is worse.

Prickronym?

[Hot Pepsi]

Robin Wiliams' character has a good point there. The military doesn't usually announce the visit of politicians into the war zone for security purposes.
Imagine how history would have been different if the VC had killed Richard Nixon in the early 60s.

[jwdd27]

Two which are unique to my current industry are POS (point of sale), which is any sort of promotional signage around a product, proclaiming that it's a special price, or is new, or is related to an upcoming event (Mother's Day ATM). However it is also used in photography (point and shoot) and more generally (piece of shit).
And SEL (shelf edge label), which is the price ticket.
Neither is acronymised.


Scunthorpe United use ICYMI in Facebook posts promoting highlights or interviews, and I have a real mental block with it, can never remember that it means "in case you missed it".

[ursus arctos]

In the early days of connected cash registers/tills, manufacturers tried to convince everyone that they were now "POS Terminals"and thus a bargain at several times the price

[Toby Gymshorts]

Prickronym?

YES.

[Gangster Octopus]

Imagine how history would have been different if the VC had killed Richard Nixon in the early 60s.

Oh, please don't...

[Sporting]

I am sure that I have been guilty of using finance terms without explanation on here, but would like to think that it has always been in exchanges with other denizens of that world (primarily dglh and GY). I actively try to spell them out and explain them in more general discourse.

As far as finance terms in general go, it is certainly true for me (for others?) that even after knowing the full spelled-out versions I am usually no further forward in my understanding, which could be variously put down to a lack of intelligence, not having spent years studying the subjects, or a subconscious desire to remain ignorant.

Much like my very intelligent partner with the offside law.