# m.o.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 2, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013 "2002-12-02T19:07:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@arrowoo2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arrowoo2)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/1 "2002-12-02T19:07:12Z")
what does the term m.o. actually mean???
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### Author:  [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/2 "2002-12-02T19:10:48Z")
I always thought it was Modus Operandi.
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### Author:  [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/3 "2002-12-02T19:12:03Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/4 "2002-12-02T19:16:49Z")
_Modus operandi_ = “mode of operations” …or “way of doing things” in the parlance of our times.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/5 "2002-12-02T19:21:05Z")
In [Haley’s M.O.](http://www.bayercare.com/haleys/haleysmo.html) it stands for Mineral Oil.
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### Author:  [@Siemsi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siemsi)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/6 "2002-12-02T19:22:35Z")
In my plant it stand for Manufacturing Order:D
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### Author:  [@twelfthsign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twelfthsign)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/7 "2002-12-02T19:35:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*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
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/8 "2002-12-02T19:40:01Z")
Or Molecular Orbital, in quantum chemistry.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/9 "2002-12-02T19:59:17Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/10 "2002-12-02T20:06:54Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@st1d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/st1d)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o/140013/11 "2002-12-02T20:18:10Z")
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.