i'm going to enter the danger zone for a second... On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> wrote: > DANGER: RANT > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > Nobody should EVER apologize for not understanding an acronym. The purpose > of acronyms is -- present company exempted! -- to solidify an ingroup by > being unintelligible to outsiders. Once, just to tease, I named a program, > " MOTH" (=Myway Or The Highway) in a paper I submitted. The editor of the > journal did not say, "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT STUPID > ACRONYM? And, once the article was accepted for publication, I did not > have the chutzpah to admit that the name had been a joke. My shame. > > ESCHEW ACRONYMS AND BUZZWORDS.
What about mispronouncing an acronym (I'm thinking of the times i get outed for mispronouncing "SQL")? And what about words, for that matter? And are there any cases where one may want to add a little bit of extra shaming/ingrouping? I guess, when should apologies be in order? > > GESUNDHEIT! > > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<-------------------------------------------------------- > END RANT. END DANGER. > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, > Clark University ([email protected]) > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
