I find it mildly irritating to look up various acronyms that are not in common use. Not everyone is a physician, teenager or former military commander. Internet and text language are one thing, constant use of acronyms is just lazy communication.

Agree!

If one is making a post or it’s in another context, the purpose is presumably to communicate, so why deliberately obscure meanings?

I always think of two explanations: The users have little ability to see things from others’ perspectives, and therefore are less bright than they believe they are, or they believe that it makes them seem as if they have privileged, arcane knowledge and if the rest of us don’t know what they’re talking about it’s our fault, not theirs.

During my years as an engineer, I always made it a practice to spell out in full any term that I later used as an acronym, e.g. Cummings Custom Refinishing (CCR).

Many here on SIGforum are guilty of abusing acronyms. It's like you're not one of the cool guys if you can't speak the code.

Well IAW the MOA with COMNAVWIFEPAC, I'm not allowed to use them here either.

IKR? TWSS. GL.

Just consulted SWMBO about this, and she told me to STFU.

Agreed. It is just showing off or cluelessness.

IT people are the worst.

If you don't fix my calendar subscriptions I'll DHCP into your DNS with a BFH and give you a KITA you POS.

Joking, our IT guy is cool...

Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.

Some acronyms provide better communication of meaning than the words of which they are made.

Radar, Sonar, Humvee, ZIP code, laser and such.

And sometimes acronyms are well known in certain groups that they have become as familiar to the people in the conversation as the above examples to general dialog.

It is not always snobbery and self absorbed causation.

OMG. LOL. BTDT. FML.

quote:

Some acronyms provide better communication of meaning than the words of which they are made.

Radar, Sonar, Humvee, ZIP code, laser and such.

As I read your comment I am reminded of the enlisted guy who was a typist in Saving Private Ryan. Everyone told him that FUBAR was a German word. I honestly had no idea that SNAFU was an acronym until Ted Koppel mentioned it on a Nightline broadcast.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Some acronyms provide better communication of meaning than the words of which they are made.

The issue is knowing which is which and using them appropriately.

There are countless acronyms and abbreviations, such as the ones you mention, that are known to virtually all Americans. This thread is about the use of those that are not.

I don't find it annoying. Really. I find it a fun challenge for me to look things up and learn something new.

 
The military seems pretty good at coming up with acronyms that are pronounceable. Sometimes it seems they stretch a bit just to achieve that.

Over and over again I ask --> could we have a stickied thread in which the acronyms are listed and explained? Maybe even alphabetized? Great gosh, that would help so many of us!

That said, member Bisleyblackhawk posted a link earlier that looks like a great resource: Here it is.

And while we're on the subject, can we use common names for airports instead of the three letter designation?

I mean, I get that it makes you sound all cool and pilot-y and shit, but I have no fucking idea where KCO (or whatever) is, and it might just have some bearing on the post, ya know?

10 Unintentionally Hilarious Military Acronyms Such as PMS

LINK with pics: https://www.military.com/daily...litary-acronyms.html

quote:

I mean, I get that it makes you sound all cool and pilot-y and shit, but I have no fucking idea where KCO (or whatever) is, and it might just have some bearing on the post, ya know?

Seems that was a recent THREAD title. My snarky comment in the thread was ignored.

“Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn’t we keep the PC on the QT? ‘Cause if it leaks to the VC he could end up MIA, and then we’d all be put on KP.”

– Robin Williams playing Adrian Cronauer, Good Morning Vietnam