Why did I do this?
What is the use of an "Abbreviations/Acronyms/Definitions page ?
When I first started using the net I had to shyly ask what
a particular acronym meant or figure it out for myself. Or worse yet simply not know.
After a while I got good at figuring out acronyms and abbreviations. I imagine there are a lot
of people who have developed that skill.
Instead of having everyone sit and think about it I am putting this
page up to define things right from the start.
Interestingly enough, a few of the people who contributed
had different meanings for the same acronym.
Hopefully this page will have the extra bonus of clarifying definitions
of abbreviation and acronyms.
Why are acronyms and abbreviations used in E-Mail messages and Newsgroup postings?
They are used for two reasons that I know of.
First, they shorten the typing time of the author.
For example, instead of typing "by the way" one can type "BTW".
Since this abbreviation is generally understood by most Internet users
this saves reading and typing time for everyone involved.
Second, I have heard that the use of these abbreviations save some bandwidth.
If you think about it, if your article gets posted to 100,000 machines
or more the difference between IMHO and "In my humble opinion" is substantial.
What is an abbreviation?
Webster defines "abbreviation" as follows:
ab.bre.vi.a.tion \*-.bre--ve--'a--sh*n\ n 1: the act or result of
abbreviating : ABRIDGMENT 2: a shortened form of a word or phrase used for
brevity esp. in writing in place of the whole
What is an acronym?
Webster defines "acronym" as follows:
ac.ro.nym \'ak-r*-.nim\ n [acr- + -onym (as in homonym)] : a word (as
radar, snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the
successive parts or major parts of a compound term
Do these pages have anything to do with Erols?
Nope. Just thought it would be a useful thing to
have around and figured I should share it.
Copyright (C) Patrick Amato 1995.
All rights reserved.
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