We live in a world full of abbreviations and acronyms standing for a great many things in our world today, especially things of a technological nature. A lot of the time I have no idea what the letters stand for and I never seem to remember what they stand for after I'm told and usually don't care. And so it goes until those letters resurface in another conversation and it's played out once more.
I don't like abbreviations in general for names or things in the first place. I never have. I don't like using the first initial of a series of words rather than saying the words. I guess I can't think fast enough and it's just as easy for me to say the words. I'm a wordy person. I love words. I think this fairly recent development of using acronyms and abbreviations is slowly causing the deterioration of the English language. This would be very sad if such came to pass because we have a rich, wonderful language that deserves more than being condensed into a random series of initials.
The same initials identifying an object mean different things to people from different generations. I had an amusing conversation with one of the residents I visit on a daily basis at work that illustrated this. She told me she'd just been looking at some CDs and I smiled and asked her if she had a big collection, did she get them from the library or what? She looked a bit perplexed for a moment and said, "no, I got them from the bank". Now is was my turn to be confused. Then it suddenly dawned on me what she was talking about; CDs...bank...she was talking about Certificates of Deposit not Compact Discs! We shared a good laugh when I told her what I was originally thinking.
Here's another example. Part of my job is to fill out lab sheets for people who need blood work done the following morning. One of the spaces to be filled in is the individual's Medicare number. It's taken me a little while to keep in mind that it's not their MasterCard number that's required.
Throughout my entire life I've been asked what my nickname is or what do my friends call me when I tell people my name. My answer is always the same; there is no nickname and my friends call me by what my name is...Meredith.
2 comments:
I too am often asked if I have a nick name, I say yes, you may call me Empress of the World if that is easier than my name!
I strongly suspect that the massacre of the language has something to do with little tiny pocket-sized devices that people have begun to think they need to type messages out on. I don't get emailing with a cel phone...why not just call and leave a message? Lisa :-]
Post a Comment