From: Glenn Morton (glennmorton@entouch.net)
Date: Thu Sep 25 2003 - 20:51:45 EDT
I agree with George that it is crazy to have to define every term every
time. I would suggest what I have done. If you see an acronym which you
don't understand, privately email the guy or gal who used it and ask. That
is simple. But to expect those of us who have dealt in creation evolution
for years and years to explain AIG, ICR etc is simply expecting something
that won't happen.
I always have trouble remembering RFEP but if I am curious enough to get the
exact words I will ask Howard who continually changes his acronyms (shame on
you Howard, stasis is best--repeat that 20 times).
It is also a bit over the top for someone joining another list to expect
everyone to do exactly what they want done when everyone is happy with what
is going on.
For Jan, you also could email someone and ask the definition. That really
isn't too hard.
-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
Behalf Of SHEILA WILSON
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 3:22 PM
To: George Murphy; Jan de Koning
Cc: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: acronyms
Being HN (hard-nosed) myself, I have and will continue to FA (follow
after) Jan de Koning - deleting the acronym-filled unintelligible emails.
Intentionally posting emails that are unreadable because of OUAWE
(over-usage of acronyms without explanation) is rude ATVL (at the very
least).
Please reconsider. Not everyone has been in this group for years. This
is my first exposure to the terms YEC (young earth creationism) vs OEC (old
earth creationism). I knew nothing about ID (intelligent design) or IC
(still trying to remember that one). As a Christian geologist, the
information has been extremely helpful . . . when I understand the acronyms,
OC (of course). I haven't even tried the robust whatever economic thing
because, sheesh, no one ever bothered to explain that one and it was too
exhausting.
I do have a strong desire to understand the emails but, without some
explanation, and occasional reminding I rarely understand no matter how hard
I try.
Sheila
George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
Jan de Koning wrote:
>
> Thank you, Sheila.
> Despite my previous requests, we still get many postings with acronyms
> unexplained. I have taken the view that, if acronyms are not
explained,
> they are not intended for me, and therefor they are often deleted
before
> reading the whole posting. I warned in the past that I would be forced
to
> do so. In a book or an article, even if they are scientific, acronyms
are
> explained. If it takes too long to do so, it is obviously not intended
for
> everyone....................
I'm afraid I'm going to be hard-nosed about this. A listserv is not a
scholarly
book or article but a quite different medium. It is much more
conversational.
Moreover, one like the asa list is intended for people who have some
familiarity with
the subject. Expecting everyone who uses YEC to ! explain that it means
"Young earth
creationism [or creationist]" in every post is like expecting a
physicist to explain at
the beginning of a paper that c is the speed of light. & scanning
through a post before
sending it, noting all the acronyms I've used (some of them
unconsciously) & then
explaining each, destroys their purpose, which is abbreviation.
Having said that, I think it's reasonable to have a resource that people
can
easily consult to find frequently used acronyms and abbreviations. &
having looked it
over once, it shouldn't be hard to remember or call up relevant ones.
& often you can figure out acronymns or abbreviations from context: In a
discussion of cosmology it isn't hard to guess that BB means big bang. &
sometimes you
can work around them - as I often do with a German word I don't know
instead of opening
the dictionary. Of course you can miss things that way, but you usually
don't have to get 100% of the words in a message to understand it.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Sheila McGinty Wilson
sheila-wilson@sbcglobal.net
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