From: Walter Hicks (wallyshoes@mindspring.com)
Date: Thu Sep 25 2003 - 16:53:04 EDT
Sheila,
I think that your point is a valid one. However, i
think that it requires some work by you also. Once
the acronyms are defined to you, then I think that
you should keep a list by your computer and not
expect everyone to repeatedly define each acronym.
I think that you too will find that a bit
annoying.
Walt
And for Rush Limbaugh and his fans in Rio Linda:
ASA="American Scientific Affiliation" ;-)
SHEILA WILSON wrote:
> Being HN (hard-nosed) myself, I have and will
> continue to FA (follow after) Jan de Koning -
> deleting the acronym-filled unintelligible
> emails. Intentionally posting emails that are
> unreadable because of OUAWE (over-usage of
> acronyms without explanation) is rude ATVL (at
> the very least). Please reconsider. Not
> everyone has been in this group for years. This
> is my first exposure to the terms YEC (young
> earth creationism) vs OEC (old earth
> creationism). I knew nothing about ID
> (intelligent design) or IC (still trying to
> remember that one). As a Christian geologist,
> the information has been extremely helpful . . .
> when I understand the acronyms, OC (of course).
> I haven't even tried the robust whatever
> economic thing because, sheesh, no one ever
> bothered to explain that one and it was too
> exhausting. I do have a strong desire to
> understand the emails but, without some
> explanation, and occasional reminding I rarely
> understand no matter how hard I try. Sheila
>
> George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
>
> Jan de Koning wrote:
> >
> > Thank you, Sheila.
> > Despite my previous requests, we
> still get many postings with acronyms
> > unexplained. I have taken the view
> that, if acronyms are not explained,
> > they are not intended for me, and
> therefor they are often deleted before
>
> > reading the whole posting. I warned
> in the past that I would be forced to
> > do so. In a book or an article, even
> if they are scientific, acronyms are
> > explained. If it takes too long to
> do so, it is obviously not intended
> for
> > everyone....................
> I'm afraid I'm going to be hard-nosed
> about this. A listserv is not a
> scholarly
> book or article but a quite different
> medium. It is much more
> conversational.
> Moreover, one like the asa list is
> intended for people who have some
> familiarity with
> the subject. Expecting everyone who
> uses YEC to ! explain that it means
> "Young earth
> creationism [or creationist]" in every
> post is like expecting a physicist to
> explain at
> the beginning of a paper that c is the
> speed of light. & scanning through a
> post before
> sending it, noting all the acronyms
> I've used (some of them unconsciously)
> & then
> explaining each, destroys their
> purpose, which is abbreviation.
>
> Having said that, I think it's
> reasonable to have a resource that
> people can
> easily consult to find frequently used
> acronyms and abbreviations. & having
> looked it
> over once, it shouldn't be hard to
> remember or call up relevant ones.
>
> & often you can figure out acronymns
> or abbreviations from context: In a
> discussion of cosmology it isn't hard
> to guess that BB means big bang. &
> sometimes you
> can work around them - as I often do
> with a German word I don't know
> instead of opening
> the dictionary. Of course you can miss
> things that way, but you usually don't
> have to get 100% of the words in a
> message to understand it.
>
> Shalom,
> George
>
>
>
> George L. Murphy
> gmurphy@raex.com
> http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>
> Sheila McGinty Wilson
> sheila-wilson@sbcglobal.net
-- =================================== Walt Hicks <wallyshoes@mindspring.com>In any consistent theory, there must exist true but not provable statements. (Godel's Theorem)
You can only find the truth with logic If you have already found the truth without it. (G.K. Chesterton) ===================================
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