With the acronyms!! Jeez!

originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
a reply to: themessengernevermatters

you mean like this,

when the powers that be (tptb or ptb) ruin the world with the plandimic, then there are those that get more formal with it and write it like this, when the powers that be, later refered to as tptb or ptb ruin the world with the plandimic.

Of course not. More like, "When the powers that be, ruin the world, then the world will be ruined by the TPTB. It's not that hard, but, many posters on the internet are lazy and inconsiderate, so I doubt it will change.

a reply to: DISRAELI

i know you can understand sarcasm, or bad attempts at humor but i'll explain it anyway.

before cell phones and texting became a big thing acronyms were in use but not to the extent that gen z, y ( millennials) started doing to make it fast and not burn up minutes and data.

before then at least in the area i come from, writing even if you couldn't spell or have a grasp of grammar, writing the whole thing was the accepted way to communicate when writing as a form of communication.

there use to be a commercial on tv for one of the cell phone companies, that had had two old ladies sitting on a park bench with their cell phones. one asked the other what idk means, the second one said i don't know, then the first one said me neither.

originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
a reply to: DISRAELI

i know you can understand sarcasm, or bad attempts at humor but i'll explain it anyway.

before cell phones and texting became a big thing acronyms were in use but not to the extent that gen z, y ( millennials) started doing to make it fast and not burn up minutes and data.

before then at least in the area i come from, writing even if you couldn't spell or have a grasp of grammar, writing the whole thing was the accepted way to communicate when writing as a form of communication.

there use to be a commercial on tv for one of the cell phone companies, that had had two old ladies sitting on a park bench with their cell phones. one asked the other what idk means, the second one said i don't know, then the first one said me neither.

The proliferation in acronyms in common usage, really began as soon as texting appeared. In the beginning text messages were very limited in # of characters and you got charged by the message. So in reality it was the greed of the telecomms that created the problem. After that it continued and evolved.

a reply to: Bigburgh

If there was such a Term, I don't remember it.

Are you thinking about leet speak maybe?
simple.wikipedia.org...

And, I thought it was TTYL....talk to you later, not
TTFN.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe
My understanding is that TTFN goes back to the Second World War. I think it was a catchphrase popularised by the radio programme ITMA ("It's that man again").

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Bigburgh

If there was such a Term, I don't remember it.

Are you thinking about leet speak maybe?
simple.wikipedia.org...

And, I thought it was TTYL....talk to you later, not
TTFN.

No, it was under the posting guidelines. It was lumped in with how many post (20) you needed before starting your own thread.. eventually that got relaxed to 5 post. There were rules on changing peoples names too... for example: we couldn't say Camel Harris, we had to use proper names (Kamala Harris).

for what it's worth (FWIW). I'm no longer seeing many rules posted in the T&C page. And I'm older now so maybe my memory is getting Biden'ed 😊

I'd like to point out that it's generally bad form here to single out any member. That said, abbreviations can get annoying here and there, but you can pretty much always glean the meaning. Some you may have to look up, and you should try not to overuse abbreviations, but it happens.

a reply to: Nyiah

The most used (unfortunately) search engine, Google, gives different results according to the browser used and the location definition, sometimes using a search engine to try to find the meaning of an acronym is not a solution.

The fact that we all should use English on ATS doesn't mean we shouldn't help other people understand what we mean.

originally posted by: ArMaP
a reply to: Nyiah

The most used (unfortunately) search engine, Google, gives different results according to the browser used and the location definition, sometimes using a search engine to try to find the meaning of an acronym is not a solution.

The fact that we all should use English on ATS doesn't mean we shouldn't help other people understand what we mean.

And I'll assist when I can:

Adjust your search terms to be dialect-specific if you have an inkling already. Meaning, "What does WTF acronym mean in American English" should be plugged into google, not just the acronym.


I used to bitch about text speak taking hold back when the Nokia brick phones took off in popularity, but honestly, I was being a whine-ass in hindsight. It's not THAT hard to figure out what they mean anymore. Get dialect specific, get better answers. Otherwise, you start with a general "What does WTF acronym mean in English" is a starting point.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Yeah, pretty sure that was never a part of the formal T&C, but as you say old posting guidelines, and I specifically remember LEET.

There are also things like this that refer now to famous names
Reaffirming Our Desire For Productive Political Debate (REVISED)

a reply to: Bigburgh

If I search "ATS" on Google, these are what I get on the first page:
American Thoracic Society
ATS Global: Industrial Automation | Smart Digital Transformation
Applicant tracking system - Wikipedia
O que é ATS? Conheça a ferramenta de recrutamento e seleção
8 Things You Need To Know About Applicant Tracking Systems
ATS Automation: Industrial Automation Tooling Systems ...
What's an ATS-Friendly Resume? And How to Write One
Applicant Tracking System | What is ATS? | Freshteam
What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)? | Bullhorn

You can see that even with the browser (Opera) configured to use English as the main language I got a result in Portuguese, as the browser knows that I'm in Portugal (although it points to the wrong location ).

I actually once suggested an ATS dictionary of acronyms and abbreviations.

Not to be pedantic, but although the OP has got it right, an acronym is an abbreviation that forms a word, such as Antifa, Nazi, or Aim, for example.

ATS is thus not an acronym, but an initialism.
www.grammarly.com...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

LOL, You would know best😊😀

Must have been self imposed that I put in my head, as I myself had issues with acronyms. I would ask what it meant, or goog le it in the context that the acronym was used.

Urban dictionary was useful yet not safe for work NSFW in many cases😥🤗

a reply to: DISRAELI

So, similar to things like SNAFU and FUBAR? As far as military?

My knowledge of old radio shows is slim to none.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Not sure about that.
My memory is probably connected to a brain older than yours.
All I can say for sure is I have been her almost a decade longer than you

a reply to: Nyiah

The problem (at least for me) is not acronyms like that that have a more or less specific use and are easy to understand as they are part of the sentence but the ones referring to, for example, organisations, in some cases even local organisations. In those cases we need to know a little more about what is being talked about (which is usually assumed by the poster that everybody knows, so they do not give any indication) to be able to make a successful search.

a reply to: Bigburgh

The closest I can find is this:

No Shorthand: Please do not use "txting" shorthand in your posts, this is an international site and many people may not understand your post.

From this.

a reply to: ArMaP

Hehehe...
Back in 2008, all I had to do was type in ATS and Above Top Secret was the very first hit on the search engine. Then followed by American Thoracic Society and Cadillac ATS. Eventually that slid in page ranking and I would have to type in whole Abovetopsecret.com .

But as stated by many here, a little heads up on what the acronym is is good common courtesy.

Once many MANY moons ago, I heard the term ATM. Now I'm familiar with MAC Machine (Money Access Card) for banking. But ATM (Automated Teller Machine). Soooo I googled ATM😐😑😮

I got an eye full😶😑😑

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
So, similar to things like SNAFU and FUBAR? As far as military?

My knowledge of old radio shows is slim to none.

I wasn't old enough, and I don't suppose you were.
I found a sample of ITMA, but I haven't listened through to see if anyone says TTFN;

originally posted by: ArMaP
a reply to: Bigburgh

The closest I can find is this:

No Shorthand: Please do not use "txting" shorthand in your posts, this is an international site and many people may not understand your post.

From this.

This seems close. Under guidelines there be sections. It would state the rule then say for example...

Ex:
Forum rules:
1:
No swearing, political baiting. Etc etc.
Section (19) part one under forum rules: no use of abbreviations or acronyms as many members may not know them. TAN Network is an American with international members that may not understand the colloquialism.

As DTOM pointed out. There wasn't a rule in the T&C... so regretfully I must have put it in my head years ago when I joined.