# Share your profession's jargon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333 "2010-03-22T13:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/1 "2010-03-22T13:56:04Z")
Every profession has it’s own jargon. Indeed, when you get two people from the same workforce together, their conversation often ends up unintelligible. So, what are some choice bits of your profession’s jargon? I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer, and like all things related to the government, acronyms are key. For example: PCV- Peace Corps volunteer RPCV- returned Peace Corps volunteer, someone who has finished their service CD- Country Director, the big boss for each country PCMO- Peace Corps doctor PST- The training period before you become a full volunteer IST- A training that usually takes place three months after swearing in COS- Close of service, finishing your time as a Peace Corps volunteer ET- to leave early HCN- host country national, someone from the country you are serving in Additionally, there is some terms that stay the same from country to country: Admin sep- to be kicked out for breaking the rules Med sep- to have to leave for medical services And some that are country specific. We’ve had: Clando- to leave your assigned city without permission Wack evac- to have to leave because of mental illness Finally, in Cameroon we ended up speaking a sort of French English mix, simply because we spent 90% of our lives speaking in French. So you might hear a Peace Corps volunteer say something like: Yesterday my proviseur was deranging me. I clando’d to the capital to visit an HCN friend, and he found out. He was so fache I thought he was going to frap me. So he called the CD and said he wanted me admin-sepped. I said I’d just ET first! Anyway, since COS is just a month away, the CD told my proviseur to calm down. I’m not sure what’s gonna happen next, I’ll just have to attend. Are we ajouting more beer? What kind of jargon do you have? What is the most unintelligible paragraph you can think of that anyone in your profession would understand immediately? ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/2 "2010-03-22T14:07:37Z")
I’m in IT; we have shitloads of jargon and even more acronyms. I have a natural revulsion to both, but it’s hard to avoid using either. Here’s a sample… SCCM runs on a VMWare VM which is hosted on the SAN. The two main obstacles to installing software using this tool are BITS throttling on the user segments and internet latency for the SSL VPN users. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/3 "2010-03-22T14:12:39Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Clando- to leave your assigned city without permission > Wack evac- to have to leave because of mental illness Ha, I like those. We just called people who were out of site without permission…“out of site without permission”. Along with the rest of your list, we also had MST (mid-service training). And don’t forget LPI (language proficiency interview). I finished my PST at intermediate low, but at COS I LPIed out at advanced mid. There’s also the different group numbers, which I guess they don’t do in every country, but I was a B-19. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/4 "2010-03-22T14:28:50Z")
I’m also in IT (and have a daughter who’s a RPCV). In addition to the usual stuff, we have some site-specific terms: EEC – Electronically Enhanced Classroom EEL – Electronically Enhanced Lab 260s, 270s, 280s, 620s, 760s, 780s – Dell computer models we use ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/5 "2010-03-22T14:47:22Z")
Fundraising has a surprisingly long lexicon of jargon. Some of the more common ones: LYBUNT – “Last Year But Unfortunately Not This Year.” Someone who gave last year but hasn’t so far this year. SYBUNT – The same, but the first word is “Some”. Someone who hasn’t given in a while. Pay-Cash (or Pay-Stock, Pay-Other, etc.). The action of paying on a pledge. See also “Straight Cash”, a payment which comes in without an attached pledge. NGs – Never-givers. MGOs – Major Gift Officers, aka DOs (Development Officers). The people who go out and ask for money. Charleston – Refers to a certain software company based there. Pyramid – A report which contains gifts at various levels arranged from highest to lowest. It used to contain a graph which looked like the eponymous name, but most shops (qv) have dispensed with the graph part. Boards love 'em. Book – A collection of stats, research, etc. for use by the CEO or other higher-ups. Vital pieces of information which may or may not be looked at. Copy And Steal Everything – A cynic’s definition for the acronym CASE (officially Council for Advancement and Support of Education). The explanation for why so many university websites, annual reports, etc. look so similar. President’s Report – Annual list of those who gave to the institution. Woe betide those whose President’s Report is not 100% accurate. Suspect/Person of interest – Not exactly a prospect (someone likely to give), more like “someone who has money.” By the time you get down to “person of interest” it’s more like “someone whose Rolex may or may not be fake.” ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/6 "2010-03-22T14:52:46Z")
I’m in the oil field and there has been a trend to clean up the jargon because it can be read as offensive to the office types. One line on a morning report that I’ve read a million times 0600 - 1430: Nipple up BOP 1430 - 1700: Make up BHA and RIH to 1100’ (MD) 1700 - 1900: Motor failed POOH 1900- 0600: WO Baker Nipple up is to make the connections BOP are the Blow Out Preventers (some time abbreviated BOPE for Prevention Equipment) BHA is Bottom Hole Assembly RIH is Run In Hole MD is Measured Depth as opposed to TVD or total vertical Depth POOH is Pull out of Hole WO is waiting on ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/7 "2010-03-22T14:56:25Z")
Between the Army and the rest of the government, [everything](http://members.cox.net/govdocs/govspeak.html)is an acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/8 "2010-03-22T15:00:08Z")
Electric Utility - focus on energy trading and unit commitment, plus some random stuff bpm - bulk power marketing efor - effective forced outage rating (name plate capacity times hours in a year / sum of hours available \* capacity in that hour) ee - energy efficiency ferc - federal energy regulatory commission crb- cost based rate mbr - market based rate pjm - an RTO (regional transmissions organization) coordinating wholesale energy movement in the mid-atlantic region MISO - midwest independent system operator ICE - intercontinental exchange CP - coincident peak (your power usage when our utility hits its yearly peak demand) CF - capacity factor - actual energy output as a percentage of max energy output over a given period LF - load factor - energy usage as a percentage of peak load times hours in a given time period 8760 - number of hours in a year and a way of expressing that you’re looking for info in an a hourly format, e.g. do you have the 8760 forecast? heat and cooling degree days - sum of the number of degrees above or below 2 base points (one representing the lowest temp before people turn on heat, the other highest before ac) in a given day over a period of days fgd - flue-gas desulfurization (removes SO2 from emissions), also called a scrubber scr - selective catalytic reduction (removes NOx from emissions) NS - norfolk southern rail CSX - the other east coast rail-line, I don’t know that it stands for anything relevant No. 2 - heating oil 5 x 16 - hours ending 7 through 23, monday - friday, considered ‘on-peak’ (spoken as 5 by 16) 2 x 16 - same for sat and sun, considered weekend peak 7 x 8 - night, off-peak hours 5 and 7 - budget done with 5 months of actuals and 7 months of forecast agc - automatic generation control - makes small tweaks to generation amounts to handle frequency peaks and valley - there are two peaks during the day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon, the middel is called the valley shoulder months - middle of spring and fall when people don’t need much heat or a/c lots more where that came from, but I’m pretty sure that you’re bored silly by now. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/9 "2010-03-22T15:04:56Z")
Whoo boy, get ready - I’m a pilot. We’re all about acronyms and other jargon. Some acronyms in no particular order: FSDO: Pronounced “fizz-doh”, flight standards district offices ILS: Instrument landing system MEA: Minimum enroute altitude MOCA: Minimum obstruction clearance altitude OROCA: Off route obstruction clearance altitude MDA: Minimum descent altitude DA: Decision altitude TCH: Threshold crossing height MAP: Missed approach point VOR: Very high frequency omni directional range ATC: Air traffic control FARs: Federal aviation regulations VFR: Visual flight rules IFR: Instrument flight rules Many more where those came from. Here are a few phrases you might hear on ATC: Cleared for the option Descend at your discretion Taxi to Position and hold Squawk VFR, frequency change approved Resume own navigation In addition to learning all the jargon and what it means, sometimes you get lengthy directives from ATC, some of which you’re expected to repeat back. A typical one on an IFR flight sounds like this: “Navajo 12345, 6 miles from MONGA, maintain 4000 until established, cleared ILS 15.” ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/10 "2010-03-22T15:18:50Z")
I’m in advertising… Media Buying specifically. We have quite a bit of jargon. \*\*TRP \*\*- Total Ratings Points \*\*CPP \*\*- Cost Per Point \*\*Makegood \*\*- Replacement for a spot that has been missed for whatever reason \*\*Discrep \*\*- When the invoice for spots actually run doesn’t match what was ordered. Have to resolve before station can be paid. \*\*Daypart \*\*- TV and radio time is broken up by time periods. \*\*AM Drive, PM Drive, Midday, \*\*etc - Radio dayparts **Early Morning News, Daytime, Early Fringe, Early News, Prime Access, Prime, Late News, Late Fringe** - TV Dayparts \*\*Rotator \*\*- When you buy something across a broad daypart mix… like Mon-Fri 6a-7p. **Broadcast month** - We work off of a industry specific calendar. All weeks run M-Sun. All quarters and months start on a Monday. For example, Jan10 started on Monday 12/28/09. Those are just a few but there are many many more. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/11 "2010-03-23T05:47:54Z")
“We can California over the gable with a four in twelve with t&g with a PI of 24/0 and r-30 using ten-pennies” A California roof is a roof which extends over an existing roof. Yes, it is used sometimes as a verb. Four in twelve is the slope of the roof: for every twelve inches horizontally the roof slope rises four inches. This is the most common residential roof slope here in SoCal. T&g is tongue and groove plywood and a PI means panel index, or the number of inches that particular plywood can span. 24 inches for roofing in this case. It would not be allowable for a subfloor, hence the “0”. R-30 is batt insulation used to insulate roofs, and ten-penny nails are used to nail the plywood to the rafters. Incidentally…do any of you builders or architects or engineers out there use the term “California roof”? Or is that just here in…well, California? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/12 "2010-03-23T13:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=movingfinger] Incidentally…do any of you builders or architects or engineers out there use the term “California roof”? Or is that just here in…well, California? [/QUOTE] And how about California corners? I do IT security. I could bore you to death with tales of DNS spoofing, cache poisoning and hash salts. Even worse, I do it for a bank - home of the Alt-A NINJA HELOC liar loans, and cx that need plastic for their DDA. That is: sub-prime, no income, no job, no plans to ever pay, applicants for home equity lines of credit (one facet of the mortgage and foreclosure crisis) and a customer that needs an ATM debit card for their checking account. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/13 "2010-03-23T15:25:43Z")
I’m a statistician. Here’s an example of in-field communication: > [@](#): > > Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods have been used extensively in statistical physics over the last 40 years, in spatial statistics for the past 20 and in Bayesian image analysis over the last decade. In the last five years, MCMC has been introduced into significance testing, general Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood estimation. This paper presents basic methodology of MCMC, emphasizing the Bayesian paradigm, conditional probability and the intimate relationship with Markov random fields in spatial statistics. Hastings algorithms are discussed, including Gibbs, Metropolis and some other variations. Pairwise difference priors are described and are used subsequently in three Bayesian applications, in each of which there is a pronounced spatial or temporal aspect to the modeling. The examples involve logistic regression in the presence of unobserved covariates and ordinal factors; the analysis of agricultural field experiments, with adjustment for fertility gradients; and processing of low-resolution medical images obtained by a gamma camera. Additional methodological issues arise in each of these applications and in the Appendices. The paper lays particular emphasis on the calculation of posterior probabilities and concurs with others in its view that MCMC facilitates a fundamental breakthrough in applied Bayesian modeling. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/14 "2010-03-23T15:57:45Z")
I’m in banking and there’s lots of jargon in it. Most of it has to do with government regulation (Reg D, Reg CC, Reg Z), and reporting forms (MIL, CTR). Some of it has to do with types of products (DD= demand deposit, CD, etc.) or rates and the like (APR, APY). Sometimes, when explaining stuff to customers, I find myself forgetting to spell out the acronyms. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/15 "2010-03-23T16:09:19Z")
Veterinary medicine. A lot of terms will be the same as in human medicine but we have some that are just for animals. PCV - Packed Cell Volume alternately known as HCT, hematocrit or crit which is probably used more for humans. HBC - Hit By Car BD/LD - Big dog vs. Little dog. Obviously the patient is the little dog. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/16 "2010-03-23T17:04:00Z")
BAR and ADR, Wile E. At least, those are the histories I get… BAR= Bright alert responsive. ADR= Ain’t doing right. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/17 "2010-03-23T17:27:07Z")
I do the billing for a printing company OOP - out of pocket (expenses) web - a type of press that uses one continuous roll of paper PMS - pantone matching system (colors), has nothing to do with cycles CMYK - cyan, magenta, yellow and black (k) - where **CMYK** got his user name, these are the 4 colors that make up [4 color process](http://waprinting.net/images/Slide1.jpg) saddle stitch - books that look like they’re bound with staples on the spine perfect bind - books that have square backed spines. We used to have strippers, not the kind that take off their clothes, but they stripped in the type on the pages. We used to have “blues” too which were blueprints, now everything is digital, or DTP - direct to plate. There are nipples on the presses too - they help move the sheet paper into the sheetfed presses. AAs - authors’ alterations PEs - printer errors ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/18 "2010-03-23T17:45:03Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > BAR and ADR, Wile E. At least, those are the histories I get… > > BAR= Bright alert responsive. > > ADR= Ain’t doing right. I’m not at work so I couldn’t think of more terms but we’re not allowed to use ADR on medical records, cage cards are okay but ADR on records is considered unprofessional by our bosses. We do use BAR a lot though. We also aren’t allowed to use the alternate meaning of DIC on records. [sub] DIC is Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation often leads to the alternate meaning of Dead In Cage. [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/19 "2010-03-23T17:45:46Z")
**Darth Panda** covered most of the power jargon I was going to say but then left out some of my favorites. **SPARK SPREAD** A market based ratio that defines the relationship of natural gas prices to Electric power prices produced by gas generators. **CRACK SPREAD** Sounds rude. Market based relationship of crude oil to refined oil products. **Odorant** In a world where consumers spend millions to deodorize everything around them your friendly natural gas company adds oderant to natural gas in order to give it that nasty smell. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333/20 "2010-03-23T21:51:58Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I’m not at work so I couldn’t think of more terms but we’re not allowed to use ADR on medical records, cage cards are okay but ADR on records is considered unprofessional by our bosses. We do use BAR a lot though. > > We also aren’t allowed to use the alternate meaning of DIC on records. > > [sub] DIC is Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation often leads to the alternate meaning of Dead In Cage. [/sub] My histories are submitted by veterinarians/vet techs/vet students. I do not write them. But yes, I’ve seen ADR used on some forms. And other colloquialisms that are far from professional. I wonder if sometimes they’re just writing down the first thing the client says, and the history evolves into some weird stream of conciousness. I thought about BAR today because a coworker asked me what the hell it meant. To her defense, she had studied vet medicine outside and had been in research for many years before switching tracks. Slang escapes her… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-professions-jargon/533333.md?page=2)