# Contextual acronyms should be fine **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 8, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272 "2023-10-08T14:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/181 "2023-10-15T01:43:35Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Likewise, hardly anyone would be confused by: The way you wrote that was 10x easier to understand than what was actually in the post that inspired this thread. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/182 "2023-10-15T05:22:00Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The way you wrote that was 10x easier to understand than what was actually in the post that inspired this thread. What? They used exactly the same format (my emphases) > [@Ruken](#): > > **Joe reporter at EPT reports stuff.** > **[elpasotimes.com/fakeURL](http://elpasotimes.com/fakeURL)** > [@Podiumgate (Arkansas) - how big a deal is this?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/podiumgate-arkansas-how-big-a-deal-is-this/991245/1): > > **Josh Marshall over at TPM posted this story** a couple days ago about something that may or may not be a brewing scandal down in Arkansas. > > **[https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/lets-talk-about-podiumgate](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/lets-talk-about-podiumgate)** Was the extra description after “Josh Marshall over at TPM posted this story” really 10x _more_ confusing to you? It explained what the link was about, that should _lessen_ confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/183 "2023-10-15T06:40:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Was the extra description after “Josh Marshall over at TPM posted this story” really 10x _more_ confusing to you? Yes, that and the longer URL. The example here stood out right away. The original post didn’t at all. Clutter matters a lot. That’s the challenge in the _Where’s Waldo_ books. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/184 "2023-10-15T06:44:48Z")
All I can say is MMVed a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/185 "2023-10-15T13:41:16Z")
It’s “Person at organization posts story about topic”, _immediately_ followed by the standard URL format news sites have used for decades of organization/topic for domain/path. No Where’s Waldo required when nearly every reader is familiar with this format, and no need to threaten to close the thread for the handful who somehow have not. And _it doesn’t matter_. The OP could have throughly swypo’d the organization as YON or whatever and everyone could have participated just fine. Just read the article (minimum qualification to participate in a P&E thread) and post if you have something to say about the alleged hinkyness or about someone else’s post. Or move along. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/186 "2023-10-15T14:57:48Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > The OP could have throughly swypo’d the organization as YON or whatever and everyone could have participated just fine. Please reduce my ignorance- swypo? My quick search comes up with “sex with your pants on” in reference to nutrition habit changes? But to the point of this thread - I don’t know that acronym. Maybe a large number of other readers also do not. Or do. Still the meaning intended is understandable in context and even if a mod feels the post would read more clearly without that acronym patrolling word and acronym choice is not appropriate moderator action. ETA that I searched a bit more and understand that swypo refers to typos on Android phones. That makes more sense. Ignorance reduced! ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/187 "2023-10-15T15:29:45Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > My quick search comes up with “sex with your pants on” in reference to nutrition habit changes? I was really hoping this would be the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/188 "2023-10-15T16:18:46Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > ETA that I searched a bit more and understand that swypo refers to typos on Android phones. That makes more sense. Ignorance reduced! I swipe type on my iPhone too, which results in strange output if I’m careless, which is frequent. But my use of the term was inappropriate because three capital letters will require manually key presses by most input methods. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/189 "2023-10-15T16:27:48Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > ETA that I searched a bit more and understand that swypo refers to typos on Android phones. It’s not about Android phone, it’s about the mistakes you get when you “swype” to enter text on a touchscreen. Swype was an alternative keyboard that let you run your finger from one letter to another, rather than individually pecking at virtual “keys”. Google implemented that style of entry on its native keyboard before Apple did, but I’m pretty sure they both do so now. And you could get Swype on an iPhone for a while. I seriously considered it, because Swype was the primary reason i didn’t get an iPhone back in the day. It was better integrated into the Android system than into iOS. Anyway, i still swype, and i make a lot of swypos. The most annoying is that my phone insists on writing “your” when i want it to say “you”. But if you read something incomprehensible that i wrote, it’s probably due to my swyping. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/190 "2023-10-15T16:29:44Z")
I don’t think I did anything to enable it on my iPhone 11. Anyway, needless confusion injected by me. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/191 "2023-10-15T19:32:10Z")
As the confused the point is that _your meaning was still understandable_, I actually learned a new to me “word” (I like its other definition too! And the concept!), and most importantly, even if there were many readers as ignorant of the word as I was, mod noting for improvement in writing clarity would be absurd. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/192 "2023-10-20T10:00:19Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > No worries. I actually thought “when come back, bring less acronyms” was pretty damn funny. FEWER, please. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/193 "2023-10-20T10:37:01Z")
Lest anyone construe the above as an attempt to introduce a five-letter acronym, allow me to rephrase: “_Fewer_,” please. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/194 "2023-10-20T12:43:41Z")
Naah, “fewer” ruins it. The whole point of the phrase is to allude to another famous ungrammatical Doper catch-phrase. Making it grammatical spoils the ambiance. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/195 "2024-08-21T06:50:17Z")
Here’s an in-the-wild example of acronyms done right: > [@CRM in the Operating Room](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crm-in-the-operating-room/1005944): > > Over in the [Omnibus Stupid MFers in the news thread (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657), @Llama_Llogophile posted: That strikes me as a very interesting discussion to be had. Given the comment about frustration and power dynamics, I think this should be in Great Debates. Mods, I’ve no objection to this thread being moved. I’m very addicted to watching [Mayday/Air Crash Investigation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday_(Canadian_TV_series)). In a number of episodes, the narrator discusses [Crew Resource Management (CRM)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_resource_management) for aviation. As it turns out, the maritime industry has [Ma…](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_resource_management) In that thread @Monty initiated a spin-off debate about CRM in hospital operating rooms. CRM in this case was made clear to mean Crew Resource Management. I dont know very much about that, so I quietly backed out and did something else. Monty’s clarification about CRM meaning Crew Resource Management (which i know nothing about) saved me from blundering in there and spoiling the discussion by having a possibly confusing and irrelevant cross-purposes discussion about Customer Relationship Management (which is also called CRM, which i _do_ know something about). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272/196 "2024-08-21T07:18:46Z")
Thanks! I’m curious about a board issue, however. As it turns out, when I made that spin-off thread, I encountered what just happened to you: the carriage returns were stripped out, but for my OP in the spin-off thread, that happened in the entire post, _both_ in the quote and what I penned. It took me a few tries before the board software decided that, yes, I really did want them in there. It really made the numbered list look interesting in the preview panel, though. Ah, Discourse. Naught but a roll of the dice sometimes, isn’t it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contextual-acronyms-should-be-fine/991272.md?page=9)