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>
> Once, long ago, in the dark ages of my youth, I studied and practiced Morse
> Code and other arcane arts required to get a ham radio license. In that
> context, it was common practice to use a shorthand for various words because
> of the tedious and error-prone nature of keying in every blessed letter.
>
> Some examples:
> CQ = "seek you"
> YL = "young lady"
> XYL = "wife" [Hold the flames, please; I'm just reporting!]
>
> plus several of the shorthand forms we see in IM-speak.
>
> I also remember those subway ads for a form of non-Gregg shorthand that used
> mangled word forms instead of squiggles: "U 2 kn rt gd...."
>
> Point is, it's not new, and none of the earlier forms corrupted the rhetoric
> of the folks who used them. Yes, language changes. I still hate the use of
> "transition" as a verb, but I expect it will eventually become accepted.
> Yuck! But that's the way it goes. Unless you're a super-fast typist, you'll
> likely use these shortcuts anyway - first in a context in which you can
> expect your audience will understand them, and then in a broader context.
> Some will die, some will live... probably longer than we will. So it goes.
>
Yes, I tend to agree with this point of view. Or perhaps I should say,
"FB on ur POV, YL." <g>
> Tech writing tie in:
> In the networking business, we use a lot of acronmyms. This is an accepted
> shorthand. But try asking non-specialists and then non-writers about the
> meaning of the acronym/initialism "ATM", and you'll get at least three
> different answers. It all comes back to the basic tech writing dictum, "Know
> your audience."
>
> Marguerite
>
>
I note that you did say "at least three". These are the ones that come
to mind:
1. General use -- Automatic Teller Machine
2. Datacomm -- Asynchronous Transfer Mode
3. Aerospace -- Apollo Telescope Mount
Any others?
Chris
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