Elusive world of abbreviations
By William Roger Jones
Upon reading George Carlin's witty line that ``Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.," it quickened my memory of reading certain elusive abbreviations in The Korea Times. Abbreviations are useful, of course, to save us space in printing and time in conversation.
The average word length in English is about five letters. Abbreviation is a long word, however, it can be abbreviated to ``abbr." When standard abbreviations are read, the whole word is pronounced. A special case of abbreviations are initialisms. One in which the first letters of a compound term are read individually (FBI-Federal Bureau of Investigation) are called alphabetisms.
Another in which a pronounceable sequence of letters as a word is formed from the initial letters of each major part of a compound term is called acronyms (NATO-North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
In June 2010, P&E Consulting, Inc. ran their ad in The Korea Times with no less than eighteen abbreviations, three of which baffled me (SOC, C&B, and SI). CEO and Chief Consultant Sunnie Hong graciously and promptly replied to my query. I then presented the executive search firm's Seoul office ad to my class with the lesson plan focused on recognizing and determining the meanings of such abbreviations.
There are thousands of these abbreviations and one is not expected to know them all. The Internet has spawned a massive number of such, used as an esoteric code among the initiated. The Korea Times writers present the most frequently used core portion, and readily and expeditiously present new contrivances upon their arrival in our language. Many of the new inventions come about as a result of jargon such as officialese and bureaucratese. Sometimes used to mislead and beguile, or mystify rather than clarify and essentially results in non-communication.
I adapt Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull's example in early 1969 that they put forth to baffle listeners or readers with sheer blather. B.H.O. went to the C.R. as C.E. & CINC for Uncle Sam on New START with the R.F. to avoid WWIII and NASAMS launches from 1600 PA Ave.
Translation: President Obama went to the Czech Republic as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief for the United States government to sign the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russian Federation to avoid a Third World War and Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System launches from the White House. Some people’s obsession to waffle the language manages to make the trivial sound impressive.
Notwithstanding, we find convenience in abbreviations when repetitive terminology is necessary in our story. Also, this clipping or shortening of words is not only for brevity but also for catchiness (TGIF, ASAP), euphemism (BO, BM), and to avoid taboo terms (n-word, SOB). Many are logos and are brand-names or trademarks (FedEx, IBM). You probably realize by now that many abbreviations fall into the category of slang or informal nonstandard vocabulary, often coinages to fit some purpose (B-ball, TP).
The Korea Times daily serves as regalia for students and can most effectively be used to discover the usage and meaning of the crisp truncations of the English language.
One strategy is to scrutinize a daily issue and list all instances of standard abbreviations and initialisms. A classroom application or assignment can be divided into the defined and undefined items upon which the focus shall rest. It is understood that the undefined items have passed into common usage in that the great mass of English language speakers and listeners and readers and writers know them well.
These concise abbreviations that we are so fond of in the English language can be appreciated in contrast to many languages. I present two examples from Bill Bryson's book ``The Mother Tongue": A German jaw-crunching word like Kriegsgefangenenentschadigungsgesetz meaning a law pertaining to war reparations; while in Holland companies commonly have names of forty letters or more, such as Douwe Egberts Koninlijke Tabaksfabriek-Koffiebranderijen-Theehandal Naamloze Vennootschap (literally Douwe Egberts Royal Tobacco Factory-Coffee Roasters-Tea Traders Incorporated; they must have fold-out business cards).
By context you can take a guess at the meaning of many of the aforementioned undefined abbreviations. A precaution to be regarded is that many abbreviations have multiple meanings. I found this search and discussion to be a fun task among my students.
Though, not all encompassing, I hope that this presentation has been ``AAA," (accurate, adequate, and appropriate: words used in language arts to describe the quality of information, details, facts, evidence in nonfiction reading and writing). BCNU.
William Roger Jones has taught English in Korea for five years. He presently teaches with the English Program in Korea (EPIK). He has written a novella with his Korean wife entitled ``Beyond Harvard.'' He can be reached at billjones47@hotmail.com.