CIA (codes, id´s, and acronyms)

[Helle Lohmann]

Hi,

quite interesting and refreshing to read all that stuff about codes, id´s, acronyms, abbreviations and, at last, language and communication as a whole.

I think one can summarize many things by reminding to be, when communicating, as explicit as possible and not more explicit than necessary. If you are managing a database of tons of languages, you need clear codes and / or some "meta language", be it English or something else. If you are talking to humans, you should take into account what they might know and what not, in general you should always introduce things you are talking about, esp. when using abbreviations, in clear words: reflect your "me-here-now"-origo for making yourself understandable. But you should not introduce too much if you are not talking to machines.

Linguists for spoken language have learned to identify "API" with "IPA" when encountering those who have been educated for Romance languages.

If you are programming for computers, you might know that "PHP" stands for "PHP Hypertext Processor", i.e. you cannot really resolve the acronym "PHP" itself; and that what "Perl" (in the beginnings: "Pearl") stands for has changed many times, now officially being an abbreviation without anything it abbreviates and so being an example for those acronyms that are no abbreviations (any more) or for a backronym or anacronym (see, e.g. wikipedia for those things).

I´m sure that there is a mailing list especially for those questions, but also without definite answers. Nevertheless, one should think about those things from time to time.


Best
Helle Lohmann

       
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