Please and Thank You

[brazenarticle]

Along the lines of "people separated by a common language" I believe sailors deserve a special tip o' the hat. We have bosuns and fo'c'sles, starboard and garboard, quays and keys, and catboats with one big sail or two hulls. Please let us not forget flotsam, jetsam and gyre. And where along the line did we lose the "seat of ease"?
Confusing enough without getting into GPS, AIS, SOS or PANPAN.
ROTFLMAO just doesn't sing to me as the old terms do, and it is totally unpronounceable.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Doodles

Sure, but "F'rinstance" was a new one to me and could be confusing for many. What's wrong with plain old "for instance"? Your contraction did not even save one character, so what's the point?

Not nearly as efficient as fo'c'sle. or sometimes focsl.

Not an acronym for "Fellowship of Churches Softball League" or "Fleet Oriented Consolidated Stock List"

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Well at least the Valley scene has faded in the US. I thought my brain was going to explode.

totally barf

[Jammer Six]

The purpose of the written word is communication. Communication does not happen when the reader doesn't recognize an abbreviation, an acronym or initials.

The purpose of abbreviations, acronyms and initials is efficiency. Fewer keystrokes, fewer syllables, shorter sentences. Efficiency does not happen when you use an acronym, I ask you what it means, and you explain it. Much, much more efficient just to actually write it out in the first place.

[brazenarticle]

Originally Posted by Jammer Six

The purpose of the written word is communication. Communication does not happen when the reader doesn't recognize an abbreviation, an acronym or initials.

The purpose of abbreviations, acronyms and initials is efficiency. Fewer keystrokes, fewer syllables, shorter sentences. Efficiency does not happen when you use an acronym, I ask you what it means, and you explain it. Much, much more efficient just to actually write it out in the first place.

In other words SNAFU. (insert smiley face whistling here......)

[JPA Cate]

Or possibly FUBAR. However, really, have you noticed how many of the common abbreviations have words that do not appear in some dictionaries?!

[Andrew Troup]

<<Efficiency does not happen when you use an acronym, I ask you what it means, and you explain it. Much, much more efficient just to actually write it out in the first place.>>

I agree, in the context of an open forum like this.

If it were a small, relatively closed clique, acronyms for common usages could easily be more efficient than hunt-and-peck, because they would only have to be explained a few times for everyone to be on board.


as for ROTFLMAO, it's definitely a lot more fun to do than to read about.

[rgscpat]

Most professional authors will have the decency to introduce an acronym or initialism the first time it is used in a book, report, or story. If the acronym is then used frequently, that's just fine, unless it's some sort of writing that people don't necessarily read from beginning to end.
But one of my pet peeves is a writer who introduces an acronym, but then doesn't use it again for three hundred pages, and doesn't re-explain it after its long-delayed re-appearance -- by which time I've no doubt long since forgotten it.
And, if you only use a shortened form a few times, did you really need it? Was pleasing your editor by shortening your word count by ten words or so really worth baffling, confusing, and angering your readers?

[Doodles]

My favorite on the subject of proper English is ..

Dear People of the World,

I don't mean to sound slutty, but please use me whenever you want.

Sincerely,
Grammar

[rgscpat]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

There's nothing wrong with a good wether.
More hardy than a ewe they can be smart and fast... Well, smart for a sheep! I have chased a few little buggers around the bush in my time but the worst was a spritely bastard that got away in the centre of Perth, Western Australia, late one night and didn't he give us hell trying to catch him! Needless to say all the drunken louts hanging out of the Pub never gave us a hand to help, just lots of "advice".
But, all in all, ewes are better looking

What could have set that wether off and make him/it lower his/its shoulders and charge away? Maybe unexpectedly bad weather? Or an odd thing such as small, quiet, but determined Australian marsupials jumping out of the cricket pitch? And was the wether maybe headed/herded somewhere in particular in Perth, like the beach?

Just...
Wondering whether wildly wintery weather/which wicked wicket weirdly whispering wombats would willfully work wily wandering wooly woebegon Willie Wether's withers westward?

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

ROFL
It is "yours" not "your's"

Surely only "yours" if polygamous, otherwise "your's", no?

I accept that my knowledge of this subjetc is woefully poor but I won't let that stop me from having a strong internet opinion

[JPA Cate]

w[h]ether or not wether's willls're warped by weather's whims whizzes me poor ol'mind toooo much!

A

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Surely only "yours" if polygamous, otherwise "your's", no?

No.

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Surely only "yours" if polygamous, otherwise "your's", no?

I accept that my knowledge of this subjetc is woefully poor but I won't let that stop me from having a strong internet opinion

your's is never gonna cut it, baby, with the guardians of the English language (if any are still left uncrumbled)

But it might be reckless for me to fly a solo mission in the face of strong opinion, .... because, as in the olden-day ww, opinions on the www with sixguns trump facts every time.

[Coops]

And if all else fails SHOUT OPINIONS. That makes them doubly true apparently.

Coops.