# On the use of acronyms

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-acronyms/969310>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [August 8, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-acronyms/969310 "2022-08-08T15:07:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 20

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-acronyms/969310/20 "2022-08-08T17:23:50Z")

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> [@Riemann](#):
>
> I wasn’t aware that there was a lack of consensus, bar one poster. Why be evasive about the fact that it has been ONE poster causing 100% of the problem with this issue?

I might have seen the Pit thread you linked to back around the time that it was started, but it’s not one that stuck in my memory. The target of that thread wasn’t on my mind at all when I started this thread.

> [@Riemann](#):
>
> What prompted this rehashing of the issue?

This.

> [@Is hatred towards EV's due to the belief in a apocalyptic future?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hatred-towards-evs-due-to-the-belief-in-a-apocalyptic-future/966752/260):
>
> Could everybody please stop using acronyms without defining them? It took me forever to realize that ICE was Internal Combustion Engine and now you throw FUD into the mix. FUD is what I buy for my cat (thanks, Gary Larson) but what does it mean in this context?

Googling the word “ice” by itself will bury you in irrelevant information, but adding the key word “car” tells you what you need to know on the first hit. If you’re on a PC, you don’t even need to take your hands off of the keyboard:

1. hit CTRL+t to open a new browser tab
2. type “ice car” (without the quotes)
3. read the results
4. hit CTRL+w to close that new tab and get back to the Dope

Same goes for FUD.

> [@Musicat](#):
>
> I don’t think it is a clickable option. I have found that wording a Google search like this works best:

OK, so when you said:

> [@Babale](#):
>
> I highlighted “BOLO” and hit “Define” which runs a google search for “Define BOLO”

did you mean you just went to Google and typed “Define BOLO” in the search window?

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