I was wondering…
Argh, I think I’m the only poster who doesn’t know what it means…
Original poster
Or (at least in my mind) it can also mean “Original Post”.
Op? can mean
opportunity (photo op)
operative (co-op)
operated (coin-op, as in laundry machine)
optical (op art)
opposite (op-ed = opposite editorial)
opus (op cit = opere citato, in the work cited)
Thank you Merriam-Webster
Op smash?
Maybe “op” refers to that kid from The Andy Griffith Show.
…or Ocean Pacific, even…
…those corduroy shorts were soooo cool back in the day!
It’s also short for channel operator in the context of Internet Relay Chat, and operative in the context of Dashiell Hammett stories.
Operation (Covert Op)
Operational (non-op)
Yep. “The Continental Op” was one of my favorites of his books.
Ron Howard in Arkansas.
sumtimes abreiviation for osteopathic
I always thought op-ed was opinion-editoral, signifying that it could be either of the 2 (don’t really know the difference between them, but I’m guessing one’s by anybody, and one’s by the editor, hence “editorial”). So, anyway, op = opinion in my book.
When I went into the newspaper game, op-ed was indeed what you stated; the “opinion/editorial” page, but lately some of the shining lights in business have come out with “op-ed” meaning “opposite” the “editorial” page - or non-paper sponsored opinions often running on the page facing the editorial page.
[hijack] It took me a while to realize what SO meant. Is it a doper thing or is it an American thing to refer to your better half as SO?
[/hijack]
Smiley - I don’t think any of us [when we were new] knew what an OP was. I know it as Original Post (not original poster)
Also, I am on my 1035th post (this one) and I still don’t quite know how to take criticism.
I don’t know if it’s a stictly US thing, but it’s a lot more widespread than the Straight Dope.
In tech jargon, “op” can also mean operation in the sense of a single change in CPU state (which can be several instructions). For instance, a “no-op” means an instruction that takes up at least one CPU cycle, but doesn’t actually do anything.
SO is a way of saying whoever you feel special things for' without assuming anything about the sexual orientation or marital status of the audience. It simply means significant other’.
(italics mine)
Say again? 