Three Mile Island, of course. On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 9:23 AM Barry MacKichan < [email protected]> wrote:
> 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/ > -- Frank Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . 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/
