From: D. F. Siemens, Jr. (dfsiemensjr@juno.com)
Date: Fri Sep 26 2003 - 22:54:45 EDT
Let's see. One person makes a list once, or everybody translates every
acronym once in every post in which it's used. The former requires less
total work; the latter, less work only for the person who doesn't want to
look anything up. Rich's claim that the latter is standard practice is
not what I have found. Abbreviations of matters that are supposed to be
familiar to a specialty are often not spelled out. I encounter this
repeatedly as I try to understand articles in /Science/. So maybe I
should join the group and demand expansion: every term not listed in
/Thorndike Century Junior Dictionary/ (used in elementary schools) must
be defined when it is used. After all, scripture says, "comfort the
feebleminded, support the weak" (I Thessalonians 5:14).
Dave
On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:27:51 EDT RFaussette@aol.com writes:
In a message dated 9/26/03 5:20:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
gmurphy@raex.com writes:
Some people active on the list have asked for definitions of acronyms in
each
post. Others (including myself) feel that that's unrealistic. I have
suggested & am
trying to implement a compromise on this, making available a list of
acronyms common on,
& fairly distinctive of, the asa list.
You could be saved the work if everyone simply agreed that it is best to
identify an acronym at first use as is normally done in any written piece
- no list maintenance, but that requires everyone demonstrate the same
level of generosity in their efforts to be understood.
rich faussette
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Sep 26 2003 - 23:02:57 EDT