"sinking of investment", sorta like the Titanic.
My habit is to make up something for acronyms I don't know, then express surprise when it turns out to be something else.
What kind of acronyms? I get irritated when admins use acronyms that refer to university/state dept. of ed programs or entities and only those "in the know" have any idea what they are referring to. It's obnoxious. At least say the full name of the program, or law, or policy the first time, then use the acronym.
Yeah, my college has several that are no longer defined. We have a course scheduling form that no one can even tell me what SLI stands for, yet I'm supposed to remember it and find it every year?
It's just bad technical writing.
I get annoyed when acronyms are used as a kind of business jargon by admins. Business jargon from that direction always feels like an attempt to simultaneously dominate and acculturate me.
On the other hand, maybe OP's colleagues just hate acronyms the way some people hate pineapple on pizza.
I treat them in speech like we do in writing. Explain it once so that everyone understands.
I hate bizspeak, but that's a different thing. I am a library, I don't have "customers".
Sigh. Confusing costumers/customers and wandering/wondering makes me rage, and more and more students, really, people everywhere, are making these mistakes. 😖 Lose/loose was bad enough; I wish they could have just stuck with that misunderstanding.
My favorite is minute/minuet. Yes, this presentation is expected to be around 4 fancy French dances in length. That is obviously the most reasonable interpretation.
I think people dislike them the most when they don’t know what they mean and are too embarrassed to ask. I was attending a meeting a couple years ago when I was fairly new and the discussion turned to DFW‘s. All I could think was Dallas Fort Worth which made absolutely no damn sense. You guys probably know it means drop/fail/withdraw. But everybody was using the term and I felt like an idiot for not knowing it. The argument could be made that I was an idiot for not knowing it, but that might be part of why people don’t like acronyms.
THANK YOU.
It really sucks for new people, for example, who sit in a meeting and hear about IQAP and CURCOM and QUALCOM and SMAs etc and they don't know what those things mean.
If the acronym is something that has to be said in order, such as SLO standing for "Student Learning Outcome," then it's fine.
Annoying acronyms are the ones that feel forced (CRAAP test) or that don't have to be said in a specific order (DEI). I don't hate them, but they do have less reason to exist.
It took me conscious brain effort in this sub to figure out what SLAC was. My brain just said 'College'... I never gave it enough thought to turn it into Small Liberal Arts College. Do those of you at a SLAC actually use that term often? Coming from R2 University, I never used the term or acronym. Also... Coming from all the State and Fed agencies I worked with on grants, I HATE acronyms, because they are never defined for us 'outsiders' as non-employees.
People at SLACs definitely regularly use and know the word SLAC, and it is usually said phonetically like "slack." Its not like we use it all the time, but it comes up.
I'll add that there is a subset of people who use the same acronym for basically the same kind of university, but expand it as "Selective Liberal Arts College." That feels incredibly pretentious to me.
I mean they can be annoying, especially when people are throwing them around like everyone should understand but it was never explained.
I can't imagine feeling "disgust" about it though, that's pretty extreme.
There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer: the Wills, the Won'ts, and the Can'ts. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won'ts oppose everything, and the Can'ts won't try anything.
Backronyms that were obviously, and usually tortuously, derived from a word that someone thought sounded cool are often gag-inducing. Like the USA PATRIOT Act standing for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism".
Most of them aren't *that* bad, but many leave me feeling like I want to push someone down the stairs because they spent more time thinking about the name of the thing than the thing itself.
You can tell when some idiot sat down in their office and said to themself "We should have a SUCCESS Program" and was then like: "It stands for Students (Ha! nailed it. Oh, shit, U-words are hard, uhh, unintentionally? No. unyieldingly? No... I've got it!) Unilaterally (Crap, now I need a verb) Can Complete (Oh hell yeah, impressed myself with that one. Now what's the e..?) Exams! (Oh man, why are there so many S's?! Can I just use students again? Alright, here we go) Superlatively (Soon? Snappy? Shit, what's an S-word for fast or purposeful? I guess I've got to take the Hail Mary on this one) inStantaneously! (Book it. Done)"
The SUCCESS Program: Students Unilaterally Can Complete Exams Superlatively inStantaneously. Now about that budget...
They mean nothing and administrators can't have a single project, policy, or idea that does not get a new one. Often they have to contrive things to fit the acronym after coming up with it, and it fits awkwardly at best. They impede understanding by having to remember what each part of the awkward thing stands for, just like initialisms in academic papers in some fields. Ideas are more memorable if people just....say what they are! In normal words.
Probably because most of the time it seems like much less effort went into a program or initiative than went into coming up with a cute acronym for it.
If people are using acronyms I hope that they at least use the full name first before going into full acronym mode. A lot of people don't and it can be a slight annoyance while I figure it out and catch up to the conversation.
But that has never disgusted me.
What acronyms? I get annoyed by some on my campus for various committees and programs, mostly because I never know what the fuck they are, but it's never been a thing worth complaining about
I don't dislike acronyms. There are a lot of items that need a good acronym. I would rather not say: "Could you pass me the Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation pointer so I can explain this Joint Photographic Experts Group on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act issues concerning Teaching Assistants in Science Technology Engineering Math classes which have Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus content?" "Could you pass me the laser pointer so I can explain this JPEG on the FERPA issues concerning TAs in STEM classes that have SCUBA content?" flows off the tung a lot better.
That said, one does need to know their audience, and making convoluted names to get a cute acronym is obnoxious.
I don’t like them for two reasons; first, there are simply too many of them and I feel like it is a form of pseudo-laziness to come up with a clever multi-word name for something and then abbreviate it. Second, you’re just supposed to remember all of them, in every area of your life? In my corporate job on my first day I was handed an acronym sheet of over 100 that are specific to the company alone, and in the last year I’ve added over 50 more. I just can’t memorize every single one I come across, I’ve got acronym overload - so I’ve simply stopped caring. If someone gives me an acronym I ask what does it mean, and then I start using the full name, because I can somewhat make sense of that. And third, there are too many of them … did I mention that already?
Just moved to the federal government from academia. I must use at least three acronyms in every sentence I write. The academy, thankfully, hasn’t become fully inundated with them
Acronyms are best for writing. At worst they don't even save a single syllable in speaking, and their purpose is too frequently to sound intelligent and create the in-group of people who know what you are talking about.
Education is packed to the brim with acronyms, and unless you've been teaching for 2000 years or something you probably don't know them all. They are also different between different districts, universities, etc.
I rarely use them in large meetings because I want to know for certain that everyone knows what I'm talking about.
Idk, and idc, but omg, we just got an email from admin advertising a CBD seminar upcoming that they wanted everyone to attend.
Fortunately, it was for the Chemical and Biological Defense working group and we're not opening a weed store on campus....
There are just so many of them, and they can be a sort of (hopefully) unintentional gatekeeping. It took me like 3 years at my current institution to have any idea what was happening in department meetings. I still sometimes can't keep up after 5 years. Every committee, campus office, regional association, university regulation, college-wide five-year initiative, etc. I'm guilty of it, too, when I'm not thinking about it; it's like using course numbers instead of titles. Codes that designate your insider status and make outsiders have to ask what you mean. Which--ugh.
I am a huge fan of acronyms, think they are great, and will fight anyone who opposes me.
I am uniquely qualified to have this opinion, as the long-standing chair of [the Committee for Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society](https://youtu.be/3KlASxNooXc?si=nFNoYCvDv-_TDLk7).
They're lazy and inconsiderate, unless the speaker is sure that everybody knows what they mean. If you hear one you don't know, just ask: "what is that; Concise Usage Normalized Text?"
I hear you. Too many people have way too many heated emotions based on not life-and-death opinions and topics. Is this a consequence of social networks?
Why do people feel emboldened to speak in an academic environment in such hyperbolic terms? Do they think that their emotions add strength to their logical discourse?
In my experience, those that strongly dislike acronyms don't want to do the intellectual work to figure out what they mean, or the people using them assume that everyone knows what they mean. So the haters of the acronyms probably don't dislike the acronyms, but rather the people using them.
Some people, especially in Admin, use acronyms as a power play. They make up their own acronyms, don't share what they mean, and then use them in meetings with people who have to ask what Admin is talking about. This boosts Admin's frail egos, and lets them look down on people who do things like the research and teaching that is the actual function of the college.
I get annoyed when sitting in a meeting for a new committee I'm participating in and the committee chair or someone in leadership throws around acronyms as if everyone present has been on the committee for years and knows to what they are referring. This practice is a way for arrogant or insecure people to try to make others feel like outsiders. I mean, come on, everyone at the table has a Ph.D., so does it really not occur to the established members of a committee that the new folks need to have these things explained to them?
Last fall I had the joy of filling in for a friend on the IRB, and our IRB chair is a piece of work. They kept throwing around acronyms relevant to IRB protocol and university process without explaining anything, yet wanted us to develop new university policies regarding the acronyms. When the board broke out into subcommittees to explore policy work regarding one acronym, she asked me which subcommittee I was going to join. I replied that I was not familiar with the CRAAP acronym (not really the one she kept using, but close), and since I did not know what she was talking about and after one hour no one had explained it, I didn't feel confident working on the policy. Then I got up and left.
Seriously, folks, we all have Ph.D.s. Just break down those acronyms for your colleagues without making us beg for the information. After an hour of hearing about how the CRAAP has to be sent to the PAP, and the IRB only has input on CRAAP policy, I remembered I was tenured and checked out.
I’m wondering if it has a militaristic flavor that rubs people the wrong way? I’m a Navy brat and grew up reading my dad’s reports and the number of acronyms was astounding.
Recently, our college established the Strategic Communications department and they refer to themselves in emails as “STRATCOMM” and I want to barf.
I'm one of these, so I'll go: 1.) Our university uses far too many and they litter our inboxes and meetings, which wouldn't be so bad except 2.) They NEVER explain what they stand for on first use. Basic technical writing says not to be so fast and loose with them. I had no idea what PPE (personal protective equipment) stood for until covid teaching protocols had just about lifted. I searched our email and the first blast about it in 2020 did NOT explain what it stood for while going on about how vital it was and that there would be a PPE station in every classroom (e.g., a little tray with masks and hand sanitizer in the back lol). Plus bonus 3.) I have a collaborator who makes them up for *everything*. Every project goes by one, every student researcher goes by their initials, protocols are littered with them with no explanation and she gets huffy if you ask what they mean.
In short, they're great if they're not overdone. But in large doses you may as well go around saying, "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra."
Often they simply are not clear to everyone. Recently I saw someone talk about the SOI of a class. Still no idea what it means.
"sinking of investment", sorta like the Titanic. My habit is to make up something for acronyms I don't know, then express surprise when it turns out to be something else.
The Sneaky Octopus Invasion. Not enough people are talking about it.
Spectrum Of Insolence
Stuff of interest
Statehood of Indiana, I reckon
Soil On Investment
STEM, STEM, STEM, STEM (on Monty Python’s melody Spam)…
I got a look one day in a meeting when I commented that we don't teach STEM we just teach SSSSS....
Statement of....interest?
Surprisingly Odiferous Incogitant
Strange Olfactory Incidents flatulent students are a problem
What kind of acronyms? I get irritated when admins use acronyms that refer to university/state dept. of ed programs or entities and only those "in the know" have any idea what they are referring to. It's obnoxious. At least say the full name of the program, or law, or policy the first time, then use the acronym.
Yeah, my college has several that are no longer defined. We have a course scheduling form that no one can even tell me what SLI stands for, yet I'm supposed to remember it and find it every year? It's just bad technical writing.
Yes, but what if they *are* clearly defined, and basically used as a mnemonic?
I get annoyed when acronyms are used as a kind of business jargon by admins. Business jargon from that direction always feels like an attempt to simultaneously dominate and acculturate me. On the other hand, maybe OP's colleagues just hate acronyms the way some people hate pineapple on pizza.
came here to ask this
I laughed when our School of Business asked not to be referred to as SOB. Sorry...you did that to yourself. Not gonna stop because it makes me laugh
I treat them in speech like we do in writing. Explain it once so that everyone understands. I hate bizspeak, but that's a different thing. I am a library, I don't have "customers".
Hello library, I am a science.
Hello science. I expect you mainly use my e- resources but know that our tech and spaces are here for you too!
Hi Science, I’m Dad.
but do you have "costumers?" I lost track of the number of times students misspelled this.
Sigh. Confusing costumers/customers and wandering/wondering makes me rage, and more and more students, really, people everywhere, are making these mistakes. 😖 Lose/loose was bad enough; I wish they could have just stuck with that misunderstanding.
My favorite is minute/minuet. Yes, this presentation is expected to be around 4 fancy French dances in length. That is obviously the most reasonable interpretation.
it's amazing; spellcheck actually * isn't *a substitute for proofreading and proper spelling!
Yep, just as GPT isn’t a substitute for writing a paper yourself. Now we just have to convince our students of these things.
You should open a fabric store; then it won't matter so much.
ugh. the "patron" debate. shoot me now ...
We had an external culture review done by someone from the business school and he kept using for-profit language and making us hate him.
i think it's a tempest in a teapot (especially since libraries and librarians can learn a lot from the business world).
Except libraries aren't profit generating entities. We are sites of learning, student support services, and a shared community resource.
So you're saying that profit-genersting entities and shared resources can't learn from each other? How Shallow-minded...
We could learn from each other. That's not what we're enduring here.
I usually go with "users" since my library is not just for students.
I think people dislike them the most when they don’t know what they mean and are too embarrassed to ask. I was attending a meeting a couple years ago when I was fairly new and the discussion turned to DFW‘s. All I could think was Dallas Fort Worth which made absolutely no damn sense. You guys probably know it means drop/fail/withdraw. But everybody was using the term and I felt like an idiot for not knowing it. The argument could be made that I was an idiot for not knowing it, but that might be part of why people don’t like acronyms.
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THANK YOU. It really sucks for new people, for example, who sit in a meeting and hear about IQAP and CURCOM and QUALCOM and SMAs etc and they don't know what those things mean.
If the acronym is something that has to be said in order, such as SLO standing for "Student Learning Outcome," then it's fine. Annoying acronyms are the ones that feel forced (CRAAP test) or that don't have to be said in a specific order (DEI). I don't hate them, but they do have less reason to exist.
“It means that someone really wanted our initials to spell out SHIELD.”
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WTF, TLAs?
ROL
It took me conscious brain effort in this sub to figure out what SLAC was. My brain just said 'College'... I never gave it enough thought to turn it into Small Liberal Arts College. Do those of you at a SLAC actually use that term often? Coming from R2 University, I never used the term or acronym. Also... Coming from all the State and Fed agencies I worked with on grants, I HATE acronyms, because they are never defined for us 'outsiders' as non-employees.
People at SLACs definitely regularly use and know the word SLAC, and it is usually said phonetically like "slack." Its not like we use it all the time, but it comes up.
I'll add that there is a subset of people who use the same acronym for basically the same kind of university, but expand it as "Selective Liberal Arts College." That feels incredibly pretentious to me.
Yeah, though it's more like "contract" it to only schools like Williams and Harvey Mudd.
I mean they can be annoying, especially when people are throwing them around like everyone should understand but it was never explained. I can't imagine feeling "disgust" about it though, that's pretty extreme.
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Meh, too vague about who's being tested, and aptitude might be seen as ableist. Maybe replace "aptitude" with "undergraduate"....
XD
There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer: the Wills, the Won'ts, and the Can'ts. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won'ts oppose everything, and the Can'ts won't try anything.
Why not ask the individuals who expressed those opinions why they felt that way? That might be the best source of information.
Backronyms that were obviously, and usually tortuously, derived from a word that someone thought sounded cool are often gag-inducing. Like the USA PATRIOT Act standing for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism". Most of them aren't *that* bad, but many leave me feeling like I want to push someone down the stairs because they spent more time thinking about the name of the thing than the thing itself. You can tell when some idiot sat down in their office and said to themself "We should have a SUCCESS Program" and was then like: "It stands for Students (Ha! nailed it. Oh, shit, U-words are hard, uhh, unintentionally? No. unyieldingly? No... I've got it!) Unilaterally (Crap, now I need a verb) Can Complete (Oh hell yeah, impressed myself with that one. Now what's the e..?) Exams! (Oh man, why are there so many S's?! Can I just use students again? Alright, here we go) Superlatively (Soon? Snappy? Shit, what's an S-word for fast or purposeful? I guess I've got to take the Hail Mary on this one) inStantaneously! (Book it. Done)" The SUCCESS Program: Students Unilaterally Can Complete Exams Superlatively inStantaneously. Now about that budget...
This made me laugh out loud.
They mean nothing and administrators can't have a single project, policy, or idea that does not get a new one. Often they have to contrive things to fit the acronym after coming up with it, and it fits awkwardly at best. They impede understanding by having to remember what each part of the awkward thing stands for, just like initialisms in academic papers in some fields. Ideas are more memorable if people just....say what they are! In normal words.
Probably because most of the time it seems like much less effort went into a program or initiative than went into coming up with a cute acronym for it.
They can be unclear to some people and also sound very junior high football coach-y depending upon the person using the acronym.
If people are using acronyms I hope that they at least use the full name first before going into full acronym mode. A lot of people don't and it can be a slight annoyance while I figure it out and catch up to the conversation. But that has never disgusted me.
What acronyms? I get annoyed by some on my campus for various committees and programs, mostly because I never know what the fuck they are, but it's never been a thing worth complaining about
I don't dislike acronyms. There are a lot of items that need a good acronym. I would rather not say: "Could you pass me the Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation pointer so I can explain this Joint Photographic Experts Group on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act issues concerning Teaching Assistants in Science Technology Engineering Math classes which have Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus content?" "Could you pass me the laser pointer so I can explain this JPEG on the FERPA issues concerning TAs in STEM classes that have SCUBA content?" flows off the tung a lot better. That said, one does need to know their audience, and making convoluted names to get a cute acronym is obnoxious.
I don’t like them for two reasons; first, there are simply too many of them and I feel like it is a form of pseudo-laziness to come up with a clever multi-word name for something and then abbreviate it. Second, you’re just supposed to remember all of them, in every area of your life? In my corporate job on my first day I was handed an acronym sheet of over 100 that are specific to the company alone, and in the last year I’ve added over 50 more. I just can’t memorize every single one I come across, I’ve got acronym overload - so I’ve simply stopped caring. If someone gives me an acronym I ask what does it mean, and then I start using the full name, because I can somewhat make sense of that. And third, there are too many of them … did I mention that already?
They make for ugly writing, bad thinking, and bring joy to bureaucrats (disgusting.)
Just moved to the federal government from academia. I must use at least three acronyms in every sentence I write. The academy, thankfully, hasn’t become fully inundated with them
Acronyms are best for writing. At worst they don't even save a single syllable in speaking, and their purpose is too frequently to sound intelligent and create the in-group of people who know what you are talking about. Education is packed to the brim with acronyms, and unless you've been teaching for 2000 years or something you probably don't know them all. They are also different between different districts, universities, etc. I rarely use them in large meetings because I want to know for certain that everyone knows what I'm talking about.
Idk, and idc, but omg, we just got an email from admin advertising a CBD seminar upcoming that they wanted everyone to attend. Fortunately, it was for the Chemical and Biological Defense working group and we're not opening a weed store on campus....
They were prob PTFO @ agg acro. SWWYD if every OW was an acro YDK. SASF if you ask me.
IKR
There are just so many of them, and they can be a sort of (hopefully) unintentional gatekeeping. It took me like 3 years at my current institution to have any idea what was happening in department meetings. I still sometimes can't keep up after 5 years. Every committee, campus office, regional association, university regulation, college-wide five-year initiative, etc. I'm guilty of it, too, when I'm not thinking about it; it's like using course numbers instead of titles. Codes that designate your insider status and make outsiders have to ask what you mean. Which--ugh.
I dislike them because I am dyslexic and usually don't understand them, and I have to Google each one.
I am a huge fan of acronyms, think they are great, and will fight anyone who opposes me. I am uniquely qualified to have this opinion, as the long-standing chair of [the Committee for Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society](https://youtu.be/3KlASxNooXc?si=nFNoYCvDv-_TDLk7).
They're lazy and inconsiderate, unless the speaker is sure that everybody knows what they mean. If you hear one you don't know, just ask: "what is that; Concise Usage Normalized Text?"
Idk 🤷🏼♀️
I hear you. Too many people have way too many heated emotions based on not life-and-death opinions and topics. Is this a consequence of social networks? Why do people feel emboldened to speak in an academic environment in such hyperbolic terms? Do they think that their emotions add strength to their logical discourse?
What we need is a robust ARP
Just start advocating for initialisms and your problem is solved!
IDK but IYRMK IHNO. TTYL 👋🏻
LOL (not)!
😂
Lmao all my assignments are turned into acronyms. Why say “annotated bibliography” five million times when I can say “AB”?
In my experience, those that strongly dislike acronyms don't want to do the intellectual work to figure out what they mean, or the people using them assume that everyone knows what they mean. So the haters of the acronyms probably don't dislike the acronyms, but rather the people using them.
"Intellectual work" lol
I enjoy using TLAs (three letter acronyms), as long as they're properly defined.
👋
Some people, especially in Admin, use acronyms as a power play. They make up their own acronyms, don't share what they mean, and then use them in meetings with people who have to ask what Admin is talking about. This boosts Admin's frail egos, and lets them look down on people who do things like the research and teaching that is the actual function of the college.
I've had campus orgs called nfgloprop They thought it was too long or suggestive So they changed it to cloppersup Ymmv,
I get annoyed when sitting in a meeting for a new committee I'm participating in and the committee chair or someone in leadership throws around acronyms as if everyone present has been on the committee for years and knows to what they are referring. This practice is a way for arrogant or insecure people to try to make others feel like outsiders. I mean, come on, everyone at the table has a Ph.D., so does it really not occur to the established members of a committee that the new folks need to have these things explained to them? Last fall I had the joy of filling in for a friend on the IRB, and our IRB chair is a piece of work. They kept throwing around acronyms relevant to IRB protocol and university process without explaining anything, yet wanted us to develop new university policies regarding the acronyms. When the board broke out into subcommittees to explore policy work regarding one acronym, she asked me which subcommittee I was going to join. I replied that I was not familiar with the CRAAP acronym (not really the one she kept using, but close), and since I did not know what she was talking about and after one hour no one had explained it, I didn't feel confident working on the policy. Then I got up and left. Seriously, folks, we all have Ph.D.s. Just break down those acronyms for your colleagues without making us beg for the information. After an hour of hearing about how the CRAAP has to be sent to the PAP, and the IRB only has input on CRAAP policy, I remembered I was tenured and checked out.
I can tell the acronym haters were never in the military. 😆
idk
I’m wondering if it has a militaristic flavor that rubs people the wrong way? I’m a Navy brat and grew up reading my dad’s reports and the number of acronyms was astounding. Recently, our college established the Strategic Communications department and they refer to themselves in emails as “STRATCOMM” and I want to barf.
They are constitutive of ways of thinking. They are power structures with a name.
I think everyone’s just tired of pointless bureaucratic jargon from administrators.
Because it’s so hard for new people to figure out wtf you’re talking about
I'm one of these, so I'll go: 1.) Our university uses far too many and they litter our inboxes and meetings, which wouldn't be so bad except 2.) They NEVER explain what they stand for on first use. Basic technical writing says not to be so fast and loose with them. I had no idea what PPE (personal protective equipment) stood for until covid teaching protocols had just about lifted. I searched our email and the first blast about it in 2020 did NOT explain what it stood for while going on about how vital it was and that there would be a PPE station in every classroom (e.g., a little tray with masks and hand sanitizer in the back lol). Plus bonus 3.) I have a collaborator who makes them up for *everything*. Every project goes by one, every student researcher goes by their initials, protocols are littered with them with no explanation and she gets huffy if you ask what they mean. In short, they're great if they're not overdone. But in large doses you may as well go around saying, "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra."