Using initials instead of full words

Whenever there's a question about music from the fifties or sixties I think, feetlebaum would have known all about this.

He really is missed.

Soorry*WB*, I haven't come across you much. Don't know about the job at all

When I come across an acronym I don't understand, I google it. It's not difficult. Just like looking up the meaning of a new word in a dictionary. This is what dictionaries and encyclopedia type things are for. I think I use such 'books' every day and I always have.

Self help rocks.

Quite bags.

Why do people come along and complain about a forum's established practices? It's what we do, it goes with the territory. I know I found it difficult to begin with but now I find it difficult not to use acronyms in every day messaging.

Bbevan,
I used to drive an Age Concern bus, when we went down a particular unmade road, that had more pothole than road, the cry "hang on to your wobbly bits" went up, hence my name. I can boast too many "wobbly bits"

bluebelle That is interesting, that you translate all the acronyms into words. Do you translate ones like TV or BBC too? If you don't then perhaps it is because the ones on GN (done it again!) are new to you, so they are not familiar? Maybe with use the new ones will settle into your mental dictionary?

The D in DH and so on is not always dear or darling, by the way, very often it means dratted, or worse.

The arguments about acronyms come round with monotonous regularity.
Are you happy to use RIP, USA, NHS, BBC, ITV, UK, HRH, HM, USSR (back in the day) BA?
There you go, all perfectly acceptable, but not compulsory
So if you don't like using the suggested acronyms on GN, it is simple, don't. However the convention is adequately explained at the top of the page and individual variations can usually be worked out.
QED (see what I did there?)

I agree Eloethan, shall we start a ' no initials ' Group !

Sorry to bore you DaphneBroon, I was unaware this had cropped up before.

It doesn't seem that long ago that this was brought up. I am baffled, as always, why anyone would join a new group and try to change it before they have settled in.

And nobody has to use them, for goodness sake!

Peaseblossom - if you look at the headings near the top of the page (outlined in blue) you will see a link to 'acronyms' which gives a glossary to those which are frequently used on Gransnet. They take a little time to get used to - some people get accustomed to using acronyms during their working lives while it isn't just as easy for others. Take your time and you'll hopefully soon be familiar with most of them, but this will save you having to resort to googling. ?

I think acronyms such as dh, dd & ds came about originally when text messages began but were limited to 140 or thereabouts characters. That's when txt spk arrived!

As someone else says, we use acronyms all the time eg BBC, NHS and so on.

Our DD2 works in computers in health. They had some new recruits (senior sorts). They were talking about pharmaceutical bods, known as pharmas. It took some time to sort out that the some of the newbies were thinking of farmers. . . . .so it could be worse?

And God forbid anyone should have the temerity to make a small criticism of Gransnet.

But what about on the radio? Say, you're lstening to the Today programmes or the like. How can you google these asbbreviations that are quite clear to the people involved, but not to the wider population. A lot of it is lazinss. Or trying to sound slick and modern.

The GN acronyms are easy.

Old ones like NHS and BBC are one thing. But they keep on inventing new ones, to cover all sors of things. It can make an article sound like gobbledigook!

Elegran no I don't need to translate NHS and BBC and you might be right it's all about how long I ve been using them I m obviously a slow bugger as I ve been on here 3 years
I used to work in the NHS and we had loads I just don't like them it all feels lazy to me but that is a personal opinion and I m not saying anyone on here is lazy whatever suits I just have never liked acronyms Again I m not talking about on here but in professions, offices, and meetings they are often used to make the user seem ' in the know' and others feel more inferior

BlueBelle I agree with you, I worked within NHS and Social Care and experienced the same thing.

Yes, I agree about the way they can be used to exclude - like any jargon. They are not used like that on here, though. I use them because I type with two fingers and it does take me longer to type "my eldest granddaughter" than DGD1. There is more chance of getting typos and having to go back and correct them, too. Perhaps people who type a lot at work (or did) have quicker and surer fingers, and so don't need to look at the keyboard to find each letter, can rattle out the words in full.

I didn't use them at first, but gradually got into using them. There are some I didn't understand at first glance - IYSWIM and ROFL and so on, and I am still bamboozled when people use ones that are new to me, but the ones for family members are now familiar.

I though you were relatively new, bluebell Have you always had the same username?

It's not just acronyms that are can be used to separate those in the know from those who aren't. Most subjects that have any degree of specialisation end up using (producing even) a good deal of jargon. There's no shame is asking what something means.

If it's something you hear on the radio, jot it down and look it up later if it matters. I spend half my life looking up stuff. Well, maybe half is an exaggeration, but you'll know what I mean. As often as not I'll have forgotten it by next day and, guess what, that doesn't matter. I can just look it up again. If certain ones keep recurring, you get used to them, just like getting used to new words or words in another language that you're learning.

Access to information (as well as misinformation!) has never been easier.

Yes Elegran I always used the same name I did disappear for a while as I was feeling a bit like everyone knew each other and I wasn't part of the 'gang' but started posting again a few months back and have since realised that a lot of people felt like I did so now my skins a bit thicker and I m plodding on posting

I felt like that Bluebelle but now I feel as though I belong.

The original question was not about acronyms in general or even the Gransnet-specific ones but about the abbreviations used for medical conditions.

While I sympathise with the problem, it can usually be solved by Google. When you have one of these conditions you are so used to hearing the abbreviation that you forget others might never have heard it. Also, some of them may sound very embarrassing written out in full.

It was about the acronyms used on GN going on to the example of ASD.
I would rather type ASD every time rather than Autistic Spectrum Disorder, AIDS rather than Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome, TB instead of tuberculosis, MMR instead of Mumps, Measles, Rubella ., Hb instead of haemoglobin, BP instead of blood pressure etc etc etc (instead of et cetera) ........... <yawn> perhaps because I have been up since 5.30 to get DH to the Churchill for a CT scan. (Oops, done it again)