What The F...
Jul. 7th, 2005 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysI get CCed on system problem email notifications from one of our systems. From time to time, these messages come through with "WTF error" as the first part of the error string. Now, I know what WTF stands for in this context - Write To File. However I cannot shake myself of the habit of reading it as something else entirely. Especially as that is often my reaction when I see these errors.
It did get me thinking about the sea of acronyms that we live in. They assail us from all sides. In my case from IT, Banking, Internet and Fandom. Not to mention the odd pop culture one that sneaks in. Of course pop culture and the Internet are pretty much intertwined these days.
Taking a trip down memory lane now, I remember when the Internet was still a fairly small community and didn't have much overlap with the mass of humanity at all. I first got access to mail and news back in 1987 - thats before the World Wide Web (how many remember what WWW stands for). Many of the acronyms in use these days (like WTF) were already well established as were emoticons. It is no surprise therefore that some acronyms are so ingrained in my consciousness that I no longer parse them into their original component words - I just accept the acronym as the meaning. Thinking that last point over - it really does not take that long to accept the acronym as the meaning. It can happen quite quickly.
It can be fun when acronyms clash. Because they arise from many sources it does happen that the same set of letters can mean two different things - what does PDA mean to you? Do they fight it out in the forum of public usage. My PDA example is probably a battle fought and won - how many people refer to it when referring to a Public Display of Affection these days.
Then there is the whole thing of people who use acronyms when they don't know what they mean. To be fair, sometimes it does not matter. Do you need to know what TCP/IP stands for to know that it is the way information is passed around on the Internet.
I am beginning to realise that this isn't really a suitable subject for a post. There is just too much to say on the subject, especially if I want to say something meaningful rather than the ramble that is above. Stopping now.
It did get me thinking about the sea of acronyms that we live in. They assail us from all sides. In my case from IT, Banking, Internet and Fandom. Not to mention the odd pop culture one that sneaks in. Of course pop culture and the Internet are pretty much intertwined these days.
Taking a trip down memory lane now, I remember when the Internet was still a fairly small community and didn't have much overlap with the mass of humanity at all. I first got access to mail and news back in 1987 - thats before the World Wide Web (how many remember what WWW stands for). Many of the acronyms in use these days (like WTF) were already well established as were emoticons. It is no surprise therefore that some acronyms are so ingrained in my consciousness that I no longer parse them into their original component words - I just accept the acronym as the meaning. Thinking that last point over - it really does not take that long to accept the acronym as the meaning. It can happen quite quickly.
It can be fun when acronyms clash. Because they arise from many sources it does happen that the same set of letters can mean two different things - what does PDA mean to you? Do they fight it out in the forum of public usage. My PDA example is probably a battle fought and won - how many people refer to it when referring to a Public Display of Affection these days.
Then there is the whole thing of people who use acronyms when they don't know what they mean. To be fair, sometimes it does not matter. Do you need to know what TCP/IP stands for to know that it is the way information is passed around on the Internet.
I am beginning to realise that this isn't really a suitable subject for a post. There is just too much to say on the subject, especially if I want to say something meaningful rather than the ramble that is above. Stopping now.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 05:41 am (UTC)What is the deal with acronyms where part still gets given in full as well - "ASB Bank", "DB Breweries".
What is the optimum length for an acronym - why so many TLAs
What is the best known acronym. UN, BBC.
How important is being able to pronounce an acronym as a word to its usage? And the related question, why do we try to pronounce so many acronyms as words?
What words are acronyms that people don't realise are acronyms (QANTAS maybe)?
Then there is the sport of trying to retro acronyms to existing real words or names. Are there any instances where the acronym became the recognised explanation (basic = beginners all-purpose symbolic instruction code) comes to mind.
WWW when pronounced in full is "double-you double-you double-you". That is more syllables than World Wide Web.
Are there any rules for what words can be ignored when building an acronym from an explanation.
Then there is a whole muddle of thoughts that I have about the use of acronyms as exclusionary jargon.
Beyond that I could recount the tales of fun had when trying to come up with cute acronyms for systems I have been involved in developing. And the question as to why that is so important.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 06:40 am (UTC)I think you could start to look at Acronyms and make an argument about the development of language as a whole and the paucity of our language or linguistic skills. Acronyms replace, often, a series of words expressing a single concept. For example, IRL = In Real Life. There either isn't a word for this, or it's fallen out of any kind of usage. WTF, your own example, is the same.
The reason I partially blame our skills is that before acronyms, people still managed to say these things, especially in the height of "proper" english c. 1800s; where half the words are now replaced by their simpler component meanings, which are in turn rapidly being replaced by acronyms.
What a fascinating subject. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 09:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 10:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 09:08 pm (UTC)