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One of those things I never got used to, as US immigrant, is excessive use of abbreviations in speech, acronyms to be more precise. It could be, and probably is, related to my poor spelling but the very base for my trouble is in my mother tongue. In Croatia it is impolite to use abbreviations and acronyms in speech; in a written text they are allowed under the provision that on the first account they are fully expres- sed, like AOL (America On Line). A couple days ago, due to my habit to open a new book at random and read a page or two, just to get a sense of it, I’ve stumbled unto the acronym WYSIATI. It took me several go-to-page attempts, using the book index, to uncover What You See Is All There Is. And that was in a book by a Nobel Prize winner in economy, not some blogger on the Internet! I understand that acronyms could be accepted in speech simply as words, technical terms. But then, is there some- thing lost, particularly for a broader audience? I remember a Ph.D. thesis defense flooded with acronyms - so I didn’t understand the subject at all. I was ready to leave when an older professor asked the candidate to explain one particular acronym. BION, he didn’t know, he DNA. Was his AFAIU of the matter good enough in spite of that? NBL. ICBW but IDTS. FIOFY and HAND. A few acronyms by the Internet bloggers: AFAIU - As Far As I Understand BION - Believe It Or Not DNA - Did Not Answer FIOFY - Figure It Out For Yourself HAND - Have A Nice Day ICBW - I Could Be Wrong IDTS - I Don't Think So NBL - Not Bloody Likely |
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Krešimir J. Adamić
