Call me a curmudgeon but I'm finding that people are getting lazier in their writings. For example, it one thread I encountered on this site used the following acronyms: EDC, CCO, IWB, AIWB, ISB and PSA in it and not one was defined. I'm still not sure what the thread was about. They may as will be writing in Klingon!

I was taught if you are going to use an acronym in your writing, you ALWAYS defined it the first time you used it. You NEVER assumed the reader knew what you were talking about because mental telepathy doesn't work.

Perhaps this acronym usage is resulting from the explosion of texting on cell phones. Acronyms are used all the time on cell phones. I don't own a cell phone and why should I known/understand the "acronym speak" used in cell phone texting?

I think texting is the most stupid thing developed. After all, it is a TELEPHONE so just call and leave a message! It takes less time to speak a message than to write it. Maybe that is why all of the cell phone acronyms came in use - they wanted a written message to take less time to generate that a spoken message. If the acronym is not know to the recipient of the text, how will a meaningful message be transmitted?

Acronym rant off. Thanks.

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Bill

Yes I love acronyms.

YouTube

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Expect the unexpected

Try working for the Department of Defense ( widely know as DOD :-). After 32 years working for the NAVY, I was still deciphering acronyms every day.

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Dave

When texting came out I too thought it was a stupid step backwards, - that said....... I have found it useful especially when texting to a group of people. Instead of calling each one individually, you can do it all at once. If i meeting time is changes (let's say at 11pm when it's pretty much too late to call) all you do is text it to the group - takes 5 seconds. It also allows you to communicate important messages while not having to disturb other members of your family. Bottom line, there is a purpose for it - and again just so you know, I too thought it was stupid in the beginning. I do NOT use i all the time and almost never when I am with people unless it is very important.

As far as the acronyms, it just takes a little getting use to like anything else. If someone does not know what one means, they find out, learn it and then more than likely use it themselves. The entire English Language is always changing with slang, buzz words, new words, etc. which need to be defined and learned as well - not just acronyms.

One of the beauties of the Windows operating system is the ability to keep Urban Dictionary running in one window while reviewing the Forum in another window.

You just got to get with it, dude! Otherwise everyone will know you're not the kind of cool, hip, with it, and down-for-it kind of got-it-goin-on guy we like to hang with.

LMAO, like totally!

Like Lobo I'll keep a search engine open when visiting here.
There is a wealth of info within this forum and with the ease of access to find the unfamiliar I don't see a reason for the poster to belabor us with a lengthy explanation. Acronyms, model #'s, recipes, authors, flora and fauna are easy to find with a few clicks.


Texting is a beautiful thing. The ability to get a message through when someone is unavailable to answer a phone due to work or loss of signal is a real convenience.

My acronym rant.


When people use the term for groups of letters that AREN'T acronyms.


Acronyms are pronounceable as a word. ICE is an acronym. NATO is an acronym.


ABC, FBI, DOD, OMG, ROTFLMAO - these are not acronyms.

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I always take precautions

OMG!!


in·i·tial·ism
iˈniSHəˌlizəm/
noun
noun: initialism; plural noun: initialisms

1. an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately (e.g., CPU ).
   
   
   
   

And why do people post threads about their PSA isn't that kind of confidential. Is discussing it a HIPPA Violation??

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Still Running Against the Wind

I get your point but just because you /many don't commonly pronounce them as a word, doesn't mean that there aren't whole groups of people who do. I DOD, we often refereed to the mother ship as "Dod" ( like Rod but with a D). In fact, there were uncountable more acronyms for things, systems and organizations that would get routinely get translated to a word/name if the program was using them on a regular basis. It was a pain to learn but did save time and confusion since many acronyms were spelled very closely but had vastly different meanings.
It's all behind me now but I still have a tendency to want to turn anything in all caps into a word:-)

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Dave

I have things I occasionally worry about but this ain't one of 'em.

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- Change it back -

a TLA for the TLAs......

Would you please translate that last sentence for us old farts?
jcelect

I try to live in an AFZ . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Is there an (H)otel there somewhere ?

Acronym Free Zone . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I agree we often share more info than we might need to. My own Personal Security Armory is not something I spread around too much info about, but discussion of my choice of High Impact Power Penetrating Ammo isn't violating anything.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

I've got....

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Here is a PSA (public service) not my psa number


Google:


FirearmsTalk Acronyms



And one will find a LONG list in alpha order.

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Still Running Against the Wind

WAG is an acronym, as is *****, POTUS, SCOTUS, FLOTUS and CRANBERRIES.
And while I'm on my rant, you know what pisses me off???? Mustard water-can't stand it.

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Forum consigliere

Just in case you also had a veiled question :

EDC, Every Day Carry - exactly what it means
CCO, Concealed Carry Officer - a model of 1911
IWB, Inside Waist Band - a holster
AIWB, Appendix Inside Waist Band - a holster
ISB, Integrally Suppressed Barrel - kinda obvious here
PSA, I would assume Palmetto State Armory

I also dislike TLAs.

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Foster Positivity.

...but now EVERYTHING is abbreviated and only a few people have any idea of what is being talked about.

I'm an AQDT. When my OCD husband left me for a LGOB I became a FBP.......

I think TV commercials are a major part of this:

If you suffer from BABS ask you doctor about ........

The only thing you can be sure of is that the last letter stands for 'syndrome'.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I don't text. I'm waiting for a phone that I can send and receive Morse Code or maybe smoke signals.

Although those aren't actually acronyms, I agree with the context of your rant.

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"In God We Trust"

Or, depending on the context, perhaps Public Service Announcement.

My opinion is that the venue and audience dictate whether using acronyms or initialisms without any explanations is acceptable. Certainly on a gun-based forum like ours, commonly used ones such as CCO and EDC are perfectly fine. It is part of our language, and those who choose to come here to learn and participate should do so with the willingness to learn the lingo.

On the flip side, though, bringing non-gun related abbreviated terms is more problematical, especially when their meanings are not easily discernable. I ran across one here the other day: YGWYPF, which I don't remember ever seeing before. I had to look it up -- "you get what you pay for" -- so I learned something I didn't know. A great reason for reading in general.

YMMV.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I wanted to organize the court reporters in Golden, Colorado (for reals).
I wanted to go with Retail Clerks or the Teamsters.
Usual, “We’re professionals and we don’t need a union,” foolishness put the kibosh on that.
I secretly had hopes we could call ourselves The Honorable Union of Golden Stenographers.

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and what his trumpet saith

LOL, my BFF from JHS, a USN CPO, was about to ETS, and move to MDC, and needed a CCL to EDC a M&P 9x19 IWB. My SIL, a USA 31L, was taking a NRA FEC at the LGS, so I suggested he call the CFI, a CPA, and USMC(R) MGSgt to get his LTC. LSS, he just had to copy his DD214 to the FL DoA. Done, EAP.

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Certified Curmudgeon

All together now lets say"


BATFE
or ATF for short What happened to the Explosives anyway? Why is alcohol and tobacco even grouped with firearms and explosives? are they gonna add Cannabis or is that still under DEA?? Should tobacco and alcohol be over in DEA? Where is Vaping gonna go?

TSA short for DHS not to be confused with DHHS which was

he United States Department of Education (ED or DoED), also referred to as the ED for (the) Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services by the Department of Education Organization Act, which President Jimmy Carter signed into law on October 17, 1979.[3][4] The Department of Education is administered by the United States Secretary of Education. It has under 4,000 employees (2018)[1] and an annual budget of $68 billion (2016).[2] Its official abbreviation is "ED" ("DOE" refers to the United States Department of Energy) and is also often abbreviated informally as "DoEd".

Not to be confused with DoED or now ED for short.
Yes I worked for the Gubberment and we could make stuff out of nothing!!


The DOA, no not dead, but Department of Acronyms

I goes on forever,
!!

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Still Running Against the Wind

i cant understand why people put catsup on a hot dog...the horror...the horror

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There's nowt so queer as folk

I write out the words rather than having to answer the question about what did I just write mean.

Back in the days when I rode my brontosaurus to work, when I gave instructions to staff I would hand print everything so that there would be no difficulty trying to read what I wrote.

Remember gettting a response from Dispatch that told me I'd won when the dispatcher asked "Jon, does that string of numbers you just said mean you under stand my message and are on your way to the call?"

As I recall it was 10-4 (COPY) 10-76 (OMW) and 10-77 (ETA) 8 (in minutes).

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On the whistle draw and fire 6

This thread made me LOL!!

It's hard to abriviate using hyrogriphics. People misinterpreted 3 huts to mean village (not city) an adult and child was misinterpreted to mean babysitter (not family), and most tragically Cleopatra's text was literally interpreted to mean send three soldiers to stop the Roman army.

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Certified Curmudgeon

**Unhelpful comments are always free.**

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Certified Curmudgeon

For the older crowd.....

Another reason that texting has become popular is because the cell service is so distorted and garbled. Our once great telephone system is now so poor that many calls are simply a guess at what is being said. Being an old timer I remember the great clarity of the old Ma Bell system. Not so anymore and the millennials don't know the difference because they were never privileged to use it.

Even though I rarely use them, I am familiar with most acronyms. If I snag one that is new to me it only takes seconds to decipher it.

I really don't see the inconvenience.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I am sure that no one on this forum gives a "Hoot" what I think about this acronym rant. That being said, my decision after High School graduation, was not to pursue a college education, but to serve a 4 year apprenticeship in the electric trade. With a little extra effort I've been able able to participate in this, and many other forums, until I started loosing my Memory "Big time". When that occurs, one can no longer remember those acronyms that you once had memorized. This isn't the fault of anyone but the person with the memory loss, and it is their sole obligation, to quit taking part in forums etc, that they are not equipped to participate in. I am near that point, now. I pray that God gives me the courage to quit, when I should.

Chubbo

I was actually able to follow that, lol.

I'll vote curmudgeon. You're talking about shorthand that is in extremely wide use in the firearms community.

To rephrase my angle of opinion, what time is it? As I type, it's 3:36 Post Meridiem. Of course, it would probably serve all of us better if I simply wrote 3:36pm. As I continue, I'll note that I happen to have country music playing on the Frequency Modulation radio that's on near my desk. The lazy amongst us might better identify that as "FM radio."

These are just simple examples. Perhaps EDC is not currently in wide use across the board in America, but it most certainly is in very wide use in gun forums. IWB, CCO, DA/SA, SBR, FFL and dozens of others too.

Lazy is all about perception. It's a Google result in less than one second to type "edc gun term" and get the result:
You can do this with just about any gun phrase (or abbreviations and acronyms in any hobby) and get a clear result in less than a second. In fact, you can search basically anything if you can find a clear way to phrase it.

I'd hope that you aren't too lazy to learn?

BigBoy99

Location: NE Corner of NC/SE Wisc.

What is all that?!

Maybe I missed it, but one of my favorites, and I learned it right here on this forum..... TEOTWAWKI

Fairly easy. Don't even need a DICNAVAB for that.

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Formerly Model520Fan

Agree on the texting/acronym thing. I still run a flip phone so the best you get from me is an “OK” if you send me a text message.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

You'll have to forgive a lot of us for using them. A lot of us have been here so long we actually know what most of those mean and we mistakenly assume everyone else does too. *s*

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Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

Acronyms? Who cares? I still haven't gotten over people using "loose" for "lose"!

At least I'm not seeing "boolits" too much anymore.

Mini-rant over.

Too much OCD here for me

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Retired trap shooter

Man I'm getting a lotta laughs out of these posts!!!��

For anyone who may not know, "boolits" is also a long established term that typically is used to describe home cast lead slugs, and distinguish them from commercial cast and jacketed.