Age of Forum Users

[mikem]

TLA 

http://speakenglishcenter.com/en/english-test-your-internet-english-skills-exercise-included/

 

[mudman]

TLA 

http://speakenglishcenter.com/en/english-test-your-internet-english-skills-exercise-included/

Three Letter Acronym
Once upon a time something that was the bane every IT person's life (or Data Processing Professional as it was when I started).

But come on MRODOC, you have a TLA and two FLAs to explain.

 

[kay]

Most school age kids rely on their school or parents to facilitate their hobbies. So for the many who's parents aren't cavers, instructed caving is pretty much the only option before university.

And of course, over half of kids don't go to university, and of those that do, probably half go to universities that don't have a caving club. So if you want to increase the number of youngsters coming into caving, the greatest pool of possible cavers is those that never get anywhere near a university caving club.

 

[MarkS]

TLA 

http://speakenglishcenter.com/en/english-test-your-internet-english-skills-exercise-included/

Three Letter Acronym

Although it's always seemed ironic to me that TLA itself is not an acronym. Anyhow, I'm pushing the thread off topic.

96 people (so far) is quite a healthy response. It's always tricky to decipher these sorts of stats, but the indication from this poll does seem fairly conclusive.

 

[mrodoc]

First thing about acronyms is that when you first use them you must explain them and if you are writing for a group of people who may not be familiar with them it is essential. I spent years listening to NHS managers breeze in and start bandying about acronyms they had developed in their offices but nobody else had a clue about.

Any guys, have a go at what I will more accurately call  SLA's (several letter acronyms). They relate to a common procedure (nowadays) using body parts (the second two). No doctors allowed!

 

[kay]

I spent years listening to NHS managers breeze in and start bandying about acronyms they had developed in their offices but nobody else had a clue about.

It's deliberate, isn't it? Part of establishing "I am an expert" in management games. Try talking in plain english in any meeting and see what that does to your credibility.

When I started out as a statistician, I sat in as my boss was being asked advice by a specialist, who was saying "... and then we calculate the Herzog-Simpson Index" and went on to describe its calculation in convoluted terms. "Oh" said my boss (who by this time was looking at the specialist as if he had four heads) "you mean the standard deviation".

 

[NewStuff]

If a LAD had LIMA beans and CABbaGe in him, he'd need a doctor... or more likely lots of air-freshener.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

One thing I find extremely irritating is people using acronyms without explaining them.  CBA could mean a number of things. I guess it means Cannot Be Arsed. As a GP more than  30 years ago I got a discharge sheet that stated my patient had had a CABG with a LIMA to the LAD. Took me a while to discover what that meant I can tell you!

If I have to explain a TLA then I CBA using it, and just type it in the normal fashion.  :tease:

Off topic but I agree with Mr O'Doc. When I worked at the local technical college they gave me a whole sheet of ruddy acronyms to learn. One was ILC for "Integrated Learning Centre". I said its a library but they said no as it has computers in. Yes stupid and very annoying IMHE.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Where was I ? Ahh yes the age thing. Well firstly I do far more caving now than I ever used to. ( Twice this week already but I have turned down a trip tomorrow ). Certainly the routes into caving seem far more difficult now than they were for me 55 years ago. Nobody back then bothered with any training or officialdom. You just got on with it and learned by your own mistakes. ( Cap'n Chris will say this is still evident in my case ). Of course we now have " duty of care " and other issues which makes the taking of young people anywhere more of a problem. It was much the same when I was a diving instructor. Very few of my students stayed with it for the longer term. We used to be slightly in awe of the older generation of cavers we saw in the Hunter's 50 years ago. Certainly they did little to encourage us youngsters. If anything has changed it is the reluctance of the younger generation to get out and do something. To retain a good level of fitness and experience a bit of hardship. It seems to me that this alone will be the hardest thing to reverse. Whilst I applaud enterprises like Wild Wookey, Wet Wellies etc I do wonder how many people move on from there into caving by themselves. There is a reluctance now to strike out on your own rather than to be lead by the hand.
My formative years in caving was with a Polytechnic club though I was not a student. Old clapped out cars up to Yorkshire with a load of manky kit ( no wetsuits, oversuits and the comforts of modern caving.) We survived and enjoyed the experience. Big pitches on ladders meant you had to be reasonably fit too. You can hardly say that today caving has mystique. We have social media and forums. No caving is not short of attention it is short of uptake. How to engender a shift in all of this I cannot say. Some things might help. The photo exhibition now moving to Cheddar may well have an intro section with details of local clubs and activity groups. Perhaps a bit of kit on display and occasionally a real caver on hand to explain things.( Cap'n Chris would be ideal but is he real ? ) Caving can be far too parochial and insular. The hobby has to learn to reach out just a little bit more .

 

[kay]

The hobby has to learn to reach out just a little bit more .

Or maybe not? Would the caves be better preserved if there were fewer cavers? Undoubtedly.  Does it matter if they're better preserved if nobody looks at them? That might be argument if you were simply looking at beauty, but what about the life that regards caves as home?

 

[Les W]

First thing about acronyms is that when you first use them you must explain them and if you are writing for a group of people who may not be familiar with them it is essential. I spent years listening to NHS managers breeze in and start bandying about acronyms they had developed in their offices but nobody else had a clue about.

Any guys, have a go at what I will more accurately call  SLA's (several letter acronyms). They relate to a common procedure (nowadays) using body parts (the second two). No doctors allowed!

So, I'm not a Doctor, but Google is your friend....

"a CABG with a LIMA to the LAD"

A coronary artery bypass graft with a left internal mammary artery to the left Anterior Descending

 

[mrodoc]

Les, you spoilsport

 

[droid]

I used Wikipedia to translate a discharge letter recently.....

 

[tony from suffolk]

We got told off for writing certain acronyms in our medical files. VAP was one (Very Awkward Patient). Of course there's also NFN (Normal For Norfolk), and SEFS (Strange Even For Suffolk). It was the NHS management-speak that really got my goat though.

 

[mikem]

Or maybe not? Would the caves be better preserved if there were fewer cavers? Undoubtedly.  Does it matter if they're better preserved if nobody looks at them? That might be argument if you were simply looking at beauty, but what about the life that regards caves as home?

But caving clubs wouldn't be...

So NHS - what's that?

Mike

 

[cavemanmike]

So NHS - what's that?

Mike

it's a queuing system

 

[JAA]

If you think the NHS is bad for acronyms you should try the fire service 🤦🏻???

 

[Rachel]

I came across my favourite NHS acronym admitting patients to the minor injuries unit.

PFO ..... pissed, fell over

 

[tony from suffolk]

We were always warned about the use of acronyms as they were frequently misinterpreted. The classic was DOA, which in one department meant Date Of Admission, in another Dead On Arrival.

 

[kay]

That reminds me of writing computer programs in the 70s. I used to use two different computers, with different text editors. On one D180 meant move down 180 lines, on the other it meant delete 180 lines. And in those days there was no "undo".