m.o.

[arrowoo2]

what does the term m.o. actually mean???

[lost4life]

I always thought it was Modus Operandi.

[DrMatrix]

Usually I've seen it mean modus operandi. According to Merriam Webster Online, it can also mean: mail order, medical officer, Missouri, or money order.

[Hello Again]

Modus operandi = "mode of operations" ...or "way of doing things" in the parlance of our times.

[Patty O'Furniture]

In Haley's M.O. it stands for Mineral Oil.

[Siemsi]

In my plant it stand for Manufacturing Order

[twelfthsign]

Originally posted by DrMatrix
Usually I've seen it mean modus operandi. According to Merriam Webster Online, it can also mean: mail order, medical officer, Missouri, or money order.

Money Order and Mail Order are usually M/O

[mnemosyne]

Or Molecular Orbital, in quantum chemistry.

[kaylasdad99]

Looks like this factually-answered question won't be answered until arrowoo2 comes back and favors us with a context.

Welcome to the SDMB, arrowoo2. You can't say you don't get everything you ask for and more, here.

[Gary T]

I think it's safe to say the most common usage of MO (certainly on TV cop shows) is modus operandi. A literal translation is "method of operating." It typically refers to a consistent pattern in doing something.

[st1d]

A few years back a couple friends (marines) and I were outside my friend's C.O.'s office, when a rather large woman walked by with a mean look on her face. Out of instinct, my buddy went "moo!", and naturally, she jumped on his case about it.

How did he escape the wrath of the situation? He, with a straight face that should win an Oscar, feverishly apologized, explaining to her that he was talking to us about his M.O.O., or Method Of Operations. Somehow, she seemed to think she'd made the error, and apologized for yelling at him.

His quick thinking probably saved his career. Turns out the woman was his niece. She wasn't in the Marines, and probably just assumed that it was one of the many acronyms she didn't understand. Naturally, we now use MOO any time we talk about the way we accomplish something.