Friday, March 03, 2006

AAAA (American Association Against Acronyms)

I (for the most part) hate acronyms!

Recently, in the bloggernacle, have come across several acronyms that I couldn't figure out. One I have yet to figure out is DH. In context, the H is probably for Husband. What is the D for? In baseball the DH is designated hitter, so is DH the Designated Husband? As I write this I am guessing that the D stands for "dear", but I could be wrong.

Some acronyms are understandable, like LDS. I'm pretty sure that most people in the 'nacle know what that is.

Acronyms are supposed to save time, but I have found that they don't always. They may save time for the writer, but not necessarily for the reader. Just today I was reading a blog and this handy acronym showed up. It was four letters. The sentence that it referenced was not in the post but was in a reply. When I read the acronym, I wasn't sure what it meant. I decided to go up the replies (there were many replies) to find out what it meant. I never did find out what the heck it meant.

So, perhaps I am wondering if we need to post a page with different acronyms that are commonly used so that Acronym Challenged (AC) people can be able to understand some posts better.

7 comments:

dkgoodman said...

I believe DH is short for "Dear Husband" and sometimes use sarcastically. ;)

David J said...

Technically, "AAAA," "LDS," "DH," etc. are not acronyms, they are initials. An acronym was originally defined as a series of initials which comprise a new word, one that is spoken like a regular word without necessarily speaking each letter of the given series of intials. For example, "SCUBA" (Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), "NAFTA" (North American Free Trade Alliance), etc. are acronyms.

That said, when Biblical scholars discuss the "DH," they are referring to the "Deuteronomistic History," which is generally defined as the books of Deut. through 2 Kings.

Unknown said...

Thanks david for that interesting bit of information. So, DH are just initials?

Something tells me that, in context, nothing I have read refers to Deuteronimistic History, rather it refers to "Dear Husband" like the previous comment.

Guy Murray said...

Ian,

I'm with you. I think DH stands for Dear or Designated Husband . . .but I don't know for certain. You could probably ask the gals over at fMh, and they could tell you in a heartbeat what it means.

Unknown said...

I would ask the FMH gals, but I am afraid of most of them. I'm kind of a chicken you know. :-)

Unknown said...

I just realized that I used an acronym in a thread about hating acronyms. I too am a hypocrite (see previous post).

For those of you who don't frequent the blogs, FMH stands for Feminist Mormon Housewives. :-)

Lisa M. said...

*Laughing*