TMI On 25 Jan 2021, at 18:43, Steve Smith wrote:
> Nick - > > I think it *can* be the thing you call out, but I encounter it in so > many contexts where that explanation doesn't really fit. Sometimes I > think it is entirely unconscious shortcutting. On this list, for > example, I use LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) because I believe > that *all* Santa Fe/NM folks know what it is an acronym for and *many* > non SFe (Santa Fe) NM (New Mexico) folks know it *by now*. Similarly I > find SFI an acceptable contraction in this context. > > On the technical side, the shortcut/contraction/acronym is often the > primary/preferred reference. Even if you might not *know* that DNA is > /deoxyribonucleic acid/ or ATP is /adenosine triphosphate/... or that > the YMCA is the /young men's christian association/, for example, you > know the signified by that signifier, and in fact you *won't* know what > those contractions are *for* unless you are in fact using them in some > insider/technical sense. > > I know people who work within a large but somewhat insular community > whose acronyms are myriad and they are truly NOT trying to be > exclusionary. I have a number of friends who are either social workers > or have studied in the field or have friends/families with mental > illness so I hear the acronym DSM and I can tell it is being used in a > very "insider" way. I know little of the details, but I've gathered > that "DSM II" somehow connotes both "modern" and "not-really-modern" > psychiatric models, but I think even if I do the GoogleFu to learn the > first level of details, I would not be much less puzzled by knowing, for > example: > > > DSM-I and DSM-II > > In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) published the > DSM-I, an adaptation of a classification system developed by the > armed forces during WW2. It was designed for use by doctors and > other treatment providers. > > The DSM-I was the first of its kind, but experts agreed that it > still needed work. The DSM-II, released in 1968, attempted to > incorporate the psychiatric knowledge of the day. It was heavily > influenced by psychoanalytic concepts that were prominent at that time. > > I think that both Glen and maybe Frank have tossed DSM or even DSM II > into the conversation here without any more explication than I get at > cocktail parties and it lands just as dead for me, but not offensive > here as there (until I get my GoogleGoggles flashing > Wikipedia/Wiktionary in my peripheral vision with automatic > explication). It even seems like a good feature for > Alexa/Siri/HeyGoogle to listen continuously and recognize acronyms and > offer ordered-by-likelihood-from-context explications in your ear (or in > the room if you want to shame the acronymster acrimoniously). > > I understand that many are "lazy typists" who find it patently painful > (emotionally if not physically) to type anything out. And *too many > people* (IMO ... in my opinion) do too much of their correspondence on a > TS (tiny screen) which requires them to hunt-peck with one finger (maybe > two thumbs) without touch feedback and without the benefit of QWERTY > knowledge built into their Neural Net neurons. > > I'm assuming Frank's OP (original post) was in response to both some > specific TLA (three letter acronym) used recently or the accrued > irritation of having to look up jargon ( especially TLAs and MLAs (multi > letter acronyms)) just to figure out a conversation he is *otherwise* > informed enough on to follow. Or both. Or maybe he's just taking out > his frustration with his daughter here where it's "safe" <grin>. > > BTW (by the way) and FWIW (for what it's worth) I think I'd be game for > one of Glen's experiments, even if the constraints offered somehow > cramped *my* style (e.g. 20 line limit on posts, no markup-like > formatting like *bold* or EMPHASIS or _underscore_ HTML (even formatting > like *bold* or /italics/). or even his extremal suggestion of > requiring "peer review" by 3 others before submitting (I'd probably > become rather mute over that one) WTFOMFGROFLMAOGMWAS! > > - Steve > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
