A word about abbreviations. 1) Do NOT abbreviate until you have defined the abbreviation. The SMA abbreviation above is used by many who research Sao Miguel Arcanjo church in Vila Franca on the island of Sao Miguel. Searching for SMA in the archive also will pull up people researching Vila Franca on Sao Miguel too. In the header (if applicable) and once in the body, it should be specified. Example: Looking for Manuel da Silva in Ponta Garca (PG). He married in PG to Maria de Jesus......
2) Don't abbreviate the islands EVER. Is F Faial? Flores? Is SM Santa Maria? Sao Miguel? Also don't abbreviate Azores as AZ (that's Arizona in America) and don't abbreviate California as CA (it's Canada too). Too much confusion. Always spell it out (modern English and modern Portuguese) and everyone will be very clear as to what you mean. It's frustrating to answer someone's question with a question, asking for clarification. And put EVERYTHING there. Don't just write Plymouth and assume everyone knows you mean Massachusetts. There are several Plymouths in America. And if you think there is only 1 of that city, you still need to put the rest in there too. You'd be surprised how many cities have the same name. 3) No slang. I have to reread my emails a couple of times to be sure I didn't include slang. The casual, spoken word is different than the formal written word. "That's sick" (something that kids in my area are saying now) doesn't not mean illness. It means "Wow," "That's great," or something that they like. Some on this list do not have English as their first language. They run that through a translator and it won't make sense (nor will they figure out the abbreviations either if they are not defined). Thanks for everyone's cooperation! Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
