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<p>Nick -</p>
<p>I think it *can* be the thing you call out, but I encounter it in
so many contexts where that explanation doesn't really fit.
Sometimes I think it is entirely unconscious shortcutting. On
this list, for example, I use LANL (Los Alamos National
Laboratory) because I believe that *all* Santa Fe/NM folks know
what it is an acronym for and *many* non SFe (Santa Fe) NM (New
Mexico) folks know it *by now*. Similarly I find SFI an
acceptable contraction in this context. <br>
</p>
<p>On the technical side, the shortcut/contraction/acronym is often
the primary/preferred reference. Even if you might not *know*
that DNA is <i>deoxyribonucleic acid</i> or ATP is <i>adenosine
triphosphate</i>... or that the YMCA is the <i>young men's
christian association</i>, for example, you know the signified
by that signifier, and in fact you *won't* know what those
contractions are *for* unless you are in fact using them in some
insider/technical sense.</p>
<p>I know people who work within a large but somewhat insular
community whose acronyms are myriad and they are truly NOT trying
to be exclusionary. I have a number of friends who are either
social workers or have studied in the field or have
friends/families with mental illness so I hear the acronym DSM and
I can tell it is being used in a very "insider" way. I know
little of the details, but I've gathered that "DSM II" somehow
connotes both "modern" and "not-really-modern" psychiatric models,
but I think even if I do the GoogleFu to learn the first level of
details, I would not be much less puzzled by knowing, for example:</p>
<blockquote>
<h3 id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-10" class="comp mntl-sc-block
mntl-sc-block-subheading" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin:
1.2rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 1.5rem;
font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; background: 0px 0px
rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.625rem; color: rgb(33, 33,
33); overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "FS Albert
Extra Bold", HelveticaNeueBold, HelveticaNeue-Bold,
"Helvetica Neue Bold", HelveticaBold, Helvetica-Bold,
"Helvetica Bold", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><span
class="mntl-sc-block-subheading__text" style="box-sizing:
inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size:
24px; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; background:
0px 0px;">DSM-I and DSM-II</span></h3>
<p id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-11" class="comp mntl-sc-block
mntl-sc-block-html" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.2rem
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-weight:
400; vertical-align: baseline; background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: Merriweather, Times, "Times New
Roman", serif; counter-reset: section 0; color: rgb(33, 33,
33); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal;
font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
published the DSM-I, an adaptation of a classification system
developed by the armed forces during WW2. It was designed for
use by doctors and other treatment providers.</p>
<p id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-13" class="comp mntl-sc-block
mntl-sc-block-html" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.2rem
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-weight:
400; vertical-align: baseline; background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: Merriweather, Times, "Times New
Roman", serif; counter-reset: section 0; color: rgb(33, 33,
33); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal;
font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">The DSM-I was the first of its kind, but experts
agreed that it still needed work. The DSM-II, released in 1968,
attempted to incorporate the psychiatric knowledge of the day.
It was heavily influenced by psychoanalytic concepts that were
prominent at that time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think that both Glen and maybe Frank have tossed DSM or even
DSM II into the conversation here without any more explication
than I get at cocktail parties and it lands just as dead for me,
but not offensive here as there (until I get my GoogleGoggles
flashing Wikipedia/Wiktionary in my peripheral vision with
automatic explication). It even seems like a good feature for
Alexa/Siri/HeyGoogle to listen continuously and recognize acronyms
and offer ordered-by-likelihood-from-context explications in your
ear (or in the room if you want to shame the acronymster
acrimoniously).<br>
</p>
<p>I understand that many are "lazy typists" who find it patently
painful (emotionally if not physically) to type anything out.
And *too many people* (IMO ... in my opinion) do too much of their
correspondence on a TS (tiny screen) which requires them to
hunt-peck with one finger (maybe two thumbs) without touch
feedback and without the benefit of QWERTY knowledge built into
their Neural Net neurons.</p>
<p>I'm assuming Frank's OP (original post) was in response to both
some specific TLA (three letter acronym) used recently or the
accrued irritation of having to look up jargon ( especially TLAs
and MLAs (multi letter acronyms)) just to figure out a
conversation he is *otherwise* informed enough on to follow. Or
both. Or maybe he's just taking out his frustration with his
daughter here where it's "safe" <grin>.<br>
</p>
<p>BTW (by the way) and FWIW (for what it's worth) I think I'd be
game for one of Glen's experiments, even if the constraints
offered somehow cramped *my* style (e.g. 20 line limit on posts,
no markup-like formatting like *bold* or EMPHASIS or _underscore_
HTML (even formatting like <b>bold</b> or <i>italics</i>). or
even his extremal suggestion of requiring "peer review" by 3
others before submitting (I'd probably become rather mute over
that one) WTFOMFGROFLMAOGMWAS!<br>
</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
</p>
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