November 19, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Hi Steve,
Can't agree with you more. I'm another old guy (old fart in Australia) and I dont even know what "I'm ROFLMAO. AWKFY? TTYL. " means. !
I would have thought having to learn SQL and programming languages would be enough...
Cheers.
David
November 19, 2007 at 9:46 pm
I was happy that I still needed to look several of those up....But you've now taught me some new ones....ugh.
By the way - I'm thinking you meant AWHFY (and not AWKFY)....
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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
November 20, 2007 at 1:18 am
Agreed - am I the only person who prefers to speak rather than send a text message, but when I do the message is spelled correctly and in full. None of this "txt U" speak my teenagers use.
Working for government there are many acronyms, particularly in the MOD. The best ever was a meeting with a particularly pompous, awfully posh accented officer who continually used the word JIPOD to describe things within the system.
Eventually this turned out to be a "Jolly Important Piece Of Data" 😀
November 20, 2007 at 1:33 am
Good topic.
I think the problem hinges on what people (mis)understand communication to mean. It's often forgotten that, just like a database transaction, communication involves saying what you mean, and then performing checks to verify the recipient actually listened and understood. Communication isn't just the talking, yet so many people will say something, either verbally or by email, voicemail, post-its, bulletin boards (I could go on; the list is seemingly endless) and assume their job in the communication process to be finished.
In some ways, talking with people with differing first languages makes things easier. Certainly, the participants are already actively performing those "have you understood?" cross-checks, and are concentrating far harder on what is being said. If I'm honest, I really look on acronyms and tech-speak as just another "dialect", and therefore only use them when I'm happy the other participant in the conversation is similarly fluent.
For that reason, and please pardon the pendantry, I'd be inclined to take issue with the sentence in the editorial talking about "it pays to be able to clearly and effectively communicate your ideas, thoughts, and concerns to others". I believe that if you're playing your role properly, it's impossible to communicate to; instead you'll be communicating with, and that's a massive improvement.
IMHO, of course 😉
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
November 20, 2007 at 4:30 am
Hi,
Can someone PLEASE translate; I don't understand the first couple of sentences! 😀
I agree that the abbreviations are to me a foreign language and one I've no intention of learning, I'm not that old either.
I seem to spend lots of time correcting my children’s grammar which is a challenge living in Lancashire where the local dialect abandoned grammatically correct English centuries ago.
This phone text language doesn't help at all not that I use it.
November 20, 2007 at 5:19 am
Good topic Steve!
I'm going to jump out on a limb here and disagree a bit. I see this as an evolution of language and one (more) of several challenges to communication.
I think it's interesting to observe the inventiveness of people using a highly serial input device (phone keypad) to communicate.
As technical folk, we've made jokes for years about TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) - now it's gone mainstream. How cool.
:{> Andy
Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics
November 20, 2007 at 6:00 am
Oh - this is a topic after my own heart..it has been a pet peeve for many, many years - communication skills or the lack thereof - I blame it all on the fact that most people don't like to read as much any more (thanks to the Internet, TV etc.) - so when they do take the time to communicate in writing, their spellings are phonetic interpretations - is their anyone hear hoo disagrees ?! How much easier it is then to communicate in letters and not words - no room for spelling errors - no time-consuming typing - and "if you don't get it, you don't get it!"
I would like a glossary for the uninitiated next time but for now am happy to say that I got an expansion for almost all acronymns used in this editorial from the (young) technical writer in our office who was crushed & devastated by the ones she did not know - "oh no" she cried - "...and here I was thinking I was so hip!"
Well - it was a crushing blow to me too - the realization that I will never be hip or cool or "with it"..doomed to be an anachonistic anomaly for as long as I live! However, I have a parting shot for all those who do communicate in this pesky fashion...SUE PEBKAC!!! :hehe:
Pjones: I enjoyed the JIPOD story! 😀
ps:Actually, I think I may still want that glossary...someone...anyone ?!?!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**
November 20, 2007 at 6:25 am
How about this one?
P.S. Glossary specific to the editorial, as requested. Apologies for including most of the obvious ones.
OMG - Oh My God
DB - Suspect I might not need to do that one 😉
FUBAR - F'd Up Beyond All Recognition
HDD - Hard Disc Drive
RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Discs
OTF - On The Fly
AKAIK - Should read AFAIK - As Far As I Know
CRM - Customer Relationship Management
ROFLMAO - Rolling On the Floor, Laughing My Ar** (or A**, if you're American) Off
AWKFY - Should read AWHFY - Are We Having Fun Yet
TTYL - Talk To You Later
IT - Dunno. Anyone any ideas?
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
November 20, 2007 at 6:35 am
For of few of the lesser known acronyms...
FUBAR Fouled Up Beyond All Repair (substitute more colorful term for Fouled up as required)
AFAIK (I think this is what Steve intended) As Far As I Know
ROFLMAO Rolling On Floor Laughing My A$$ Off
TTYL Talk To You Later
I agree with the idea that email should avoid jargon, TLAs and anything else that makes it less readable subject, in part, to the intended audience. If the audience is known to understand, it is less of an issue. Still how may cases of carpal tunnel syndrome will by causes by typing 'You' instead of 'U'. To me, especially in email or a forum where you have virtually unlimited space, that is simply lazy.
What is even worse, in my opinion, is the generally poor quality of spell checkers. That or they are not enabled. When one is translating from one's native language to a second or third language, that is one thing. Mistakes or errors in usage are expected. But if you profess a language to be your native one, try to use it correctly. And if you need help, there are a bazillion spelling and grammar checkers available to help you.
I once worked with an IBM Sales Engineer who was doing a presentation on what was then a new technology, SNA. In the beginning of his presentation he showed a Tower of Babel covered with numerous acronyms from IBM. He noted the subject of the presentation, looked at his own display, then commented dryly that 'at IBM we have to many TLAs'.
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Buy the ticket, take the ride. -- Hunter S. Thompson
November 20, 2007 at 6:49 am
Working for a government contractor I have come to believe that the abbreviations, acronyms, jargon is a mechanism for some to hide what they do. Least you the outsider understand and come to the conclusion that they do as little as possible, taking as long as possible. Saying this another way is to say they are highly paid and contribute little or nothing to our knowledge or society.
November 20, 2007 at 6:54 am
Check http://www.acronymfinder.com
Under certain circumstances abbreviations and jargon are acceptable (where everyone in the audience is familiar with them) but they are used far too often with mixed groups, and such use can be rude.
"If you can't explain it in plain English, then you don't understand it yourself"
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
November 20, 2007 at 6:59 am
We always used bitbucket with a slightly different meaning. It was usually in reference to some important piece of data, now lost and not retrievable, having gone to 'the great bitbucket in the sky'. However, I AM old enough to know what LUN 0 is, so I've learned something.
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Buy the ticket, take the ride. -- Hunter S. Thompson
November 20, 2007 at 7:05 am
majorbloodnock (11/20/2007)
How about this one?P.S. Glossary specific to the editorial, as requested. Apologies for including most of the obvious ones.
OMG - Oh My God
DB - Suspect I might not need to do that one 😉
Thank you for that very comprehensive list - I will now consider myself in the ranks of the informed..:)
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**
November 20, 2007 at 7:24 am
I've been playing online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) sinve Everquest came out in March of 1999. Lots of people there use acronyms all the time, or shorthand. Sometimes you have to, i.e. when you have a bad fight on your hand 😉 But even there I strive to write proper English as everyone can understand it (although capitilization becomes difficult at times....).
Guess I will never be cool either! And I'm ok with that!
Some of those though, like FUBAR, has been around a lot longer than computers. At least my dad said it was commonly used around the planes he flew even back in the 50s 😉
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