YYAT (Yet Another Acronym Thread)

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jos=E9_Mar=EDa?= Mateos]

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Looks like they're making things up. Plonk, as far as I know, is not
an acronym.

It might be, or might not:

- From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

plonk

(Possibly influenced by British slang "plonk" for cheap booze, or
"plonker" for someone behaving stupidly; usually written "*plonk*") The
sound a newbie makes as he falls to the bottom of a kill file. While
this term originated in the Usenet, by 1994 it was widespread on Usenet
and mailing lists as a form of public ridicule.
Another theory is that it is an acronym for "Person with
Little Or No Knowledge".


And yet one more:

- From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002)
[vera]:

PLONK
Please Leave Our Newsgroup, Kid (Usenet, telecommunication-slang)

Regards,

Chema.
- --
http://EuropeSwPatentFree.hispalinux.es - EuropeSwPatentFree
Take out "-news" if replying by e-mail / Quita "-news" para contestar
I don't read HTML posts / No leo mensajes en HTML
Blog Overflow: http://chema.homelinux.org
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[Joona I Palaste]

Looks like they're making things up. Plonk, as far as I know, is not
an acronym.

I agree with you. It's onomatopoetic or something. The only reason it
looks like an acronym is because it's written in ALL CAPS to make it
sound louder.
What would be the opposite of "plonk"? Maybe "plink"? Or "knolp"?

 

[Joona I Palaste]

Define ``nearly everyone''. ;-)

Every single one... <g, d & r>

--
/-- Joona Palaste ([email protected]) ------------- Finland --------\
\-- http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste --------------------- rules! --------/
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to
factor large prime numbers."
- Bill Gates

 

[Dave Vandervies]

[...]

It means ``Please Log Off, Net Kook'' (according to
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/tcs/techsupp/acronyms.htm). But I
noticed that Eric Raymond's definition is different.

Looks like they're making things up. Plonk, as far as I know, is not
an acronym.

Between my recollection of proposed expansions and the first page of
google://plonk+acronym:
People Leaving Our Newsgroup Killfiled
Person {of|with} Little Or No Knowledge
PLaced ON Killfilter

All of these look like back-formations to me. The most believable
etymology is that it came from the sound made when somebody falls to
the bottom of a killfile.


dave

 

[Les Cargill]

I agree with you. It's onomatopoetic or something. The only reason it
looks like an acronym is because it's written in ALL CAPS to make it
sound louder.
What would be the opposite of "plonk"? Maybe "plink"? Or "knolp"?

Vrrrrrrp! ( the sound of velcro being pulled off ).

 

[Arthur J. O'Dwyer]

From a Google Search: comp.lang.c regulars who use ``IANAL''
includes (inter alia) Daniel Fox, Arthur J. O'Dwyer, Dan Pop,
Bjorn Augestad, Steve (istartedi), Joona I Palaste, Chris Torek,
Richard Bos, Gergo Barany, Keith Thompson, CBFalconer, and
Christian Bau, in order of relevance.

Yay! I'm the second-most-relevant not-a-lawyer in this group!

-Arthur

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Define ``nearly everyone''. ;-)

Me.

 

[CBFalconer]

I don't think it really means "local user". It's a combination
of "user" and "loser".

I think of it as the sound made by the LUSER as s/he/it hits the
watery bottom of that deep well into which s/he/it is to be
henceforth delivered.

 

[CBFalconer]

.... snip ...

What would be the opposite of "plonk"? Maybe "plink"? Or "knolp"?

#define hctiws }

switch (status) {
case plonk: destroy(); break;
case knolp: resurrect(); break;
default: read(); break;
hctiws;

 

[CBFalconer]

Yay! I'm the second-most-relevant not-a-lawyer in this group!

I think I used it for the first time in who knows how long last
week, and lo, I made the hall of shame! I suspect the 'relevance'
means usage count over some period.

 

[CBFalconer]

Define ``nearly everyone''. ;-)

myself and at least one other person. That defines a clear
majority.

 

[Dan Pop]

It means ``Local User'' (according to
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/tcs/techsupp/acronyms.htm).

Eric Raymond's definition is different. And it is his definition that is
usually meant by people using the word.

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

How about codifying a list of acceptable acronyms on c.l.c?

That would be a bad idea, from the POV of the newcomers.
It's much better to stick to the most common Usenet abbreviations
(not every abbreviation is an acronym, BTW). OTOH, some are so handy,
that it's very hard to resist the temptation...

Hence, my comments:

<g>

Better replaced by the poster's favourite emoticon.

<g,d&r>

I'm not sure if enough people understand it.

<VBG>

I'm not sure if enough people understand it. An emoticon is probably
better (as they are language neutral and, therefore, more intuitive to
the non-native English speaker).

AAMOF
AFAIAA
AFAIAC
AFAIC

None of them is common enough. I can't remember when I've seen one of
them actually used here.

AFAICT
AFAIK
AFAIR
AIUI
BTW
FAQ

All of them OK. Relatively easy to figure them out, if not already
familiar with them.

FUBAR

Not only not needed, but there is no consensus about its meaning.

FUD

Again, not really needed here.

FWIW
FYI
OK.

HAND
HTH

I'd rather avoid abbreviations for end of post formulas. If you want to
be polite, you can take the trouble of expanding them ;-)

IANAL
OK.

IINM

Can't remember seeing it used here.

IIRC
IMHO
IMNSHO
IMO
IOW
ISP

All of them very common and most of them very useful.

ISTM
ISTR
ITYM
IIUC
IYSWIM

These are a bit on the obscure side. It takes an imaginative reader to
figure them out.

LART

Can't remember seeing it used here.

LOL

Another one that is better replaced by an emoticon.

LUSER

Not an abbreviation, a word on its on. See the Jargon File.

NNTP

Seldom needed here (mostly for off topic discussions ;-)

OP
OTOH
PITA
OK.

PLONK

It's a made-up acronym. IMHO, anyone anouncing that he plonked someone
has an ego problem (why should anyone else care?).

POV
RFC
OK.

ROTFL

See my previous remarks on the topic. Ditto for the unproposed ROTFLMAO.

RTFAQ
RTFM

For consistency the former should be RTFFAQ.

TIA
TTFN

See my previous remark on end of post formulas.

WTH

Why not WTF, too? ;-)

WYSIWYG
Y2K
OK.

YHBT

Probably too obscure.

YMMV

OK, although the c.l.c newbie might have a problem decoding it.

Source: http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/tcs/techsupp/acronyms.htm
(with some deletions)

There are far too many such sources to consider one or another as
authoritative. Therefore, the abbreviations with non-consensual
meanings should be avoided.

Missing from the list, although very frequently used: WRT.
Missing from the list, although very frequently used in c.l.c (and not
covered by the FAQ, either): C89, C99, N869, C&V, DR, TC, NA.

If this discussion leads to any conclusion, the "approved" list, together
with expansions (and explanations, where necessary) should become part of
the weekly welcome to clc post. Otherwise, it was a mere exercise in
futility...

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

Depending on your definition of ``acronym''.

My definition doesn't matter. Can you find any reputable dictionary
claiming that "abbreviation" and "acronym" are synonyms? Because what
you have posted is a list of abbreviations.

Dan

 

[Arthur J. O'Dwyer]

Not only not needed, but there is no consensus about its meaning.

Huh? Its meaning is perfectly clear as far as I know,
modulo the R's standing for either "repair" or "recall."
Not that it's ever been used in this group AFAIK...

Why not WTF, too? ;-)

Because people who write that most often use "wtf?" (lowercase),
and aren't worth reading anyway. It's a statement of
lack-of-knowledge and obscenity in one. I've never read
"WTH" before, and I'm not entirely sure it means what you
imply it means (but can't come up with anything better, and
looks like Acronym Finder agrees with you) except in longer
phrases such as "WTHDYTYA (TTMT___)?". ;-)

Missing from the list, although very frequently used: WRT.

And maybe even WLOG ("without loss of generality"), which might
pop up from time to time here or in related groups.

Missing from the list, although very frequently used in c.l.c
(and not covered by the FAQ, either): C89, C99, N869, C&V, DR,
TC, NA.

You skipped the obvious: UB.
And its less obvious and cutesier siblings IDB and USB.

If this discussion leads to any conclusion, the "approved" list, together
with expansions (and explanations, where necessary) should become part of
the weekly welcome to clc post. Otherwise, it was a mere exercise in
futility...

And your point is...? ;-)

-Arthur

 

[Dave Vandervies]

And maybe even WLOG ("without loss of generality"), which might
pop up from time to time here or in related groups.

Don't forget WMLOG ("without much loss of generality") and WTMLOG
("without too much loss of generality"). (While the terms are perhaps
not in live use, the concepts are quite familiar, f'rexample assuming
INT_MAX>CHAR_MAX. Assuming a hosted implementation probably falls into
this too.)


dave

 

[Joona I Palaste]

Don't forget WMLOG ("without much loss of generality") and WTMLOG
("without too much loss of generality"). (While the terms are perhaps
not in live use, the concepts are quite familiar, f'rexample assuming
INT_MAX>CHAR_MAX. Assuming a hosted implementation probably falls into
this too.)

I noted that www.acronymfinder.com knows WYSIWYG (What You See Is What
You Get), WYSINWYG (What You See Is Not What You Get) and WYSIMOLWYG
(What You See Is More Or Less What You Get). But I didn't try to see if
it knows WYSCAWYG (What You See Certainly Ain't What You Get).

 

[Randy Howard]

Huh? Its meaning is perfectly clear as far as I know,
modulo the R's standing for either "repair" or "recall."

I thought it was for "recognition". *shrug*

 

[Mac]

Here are some of the ones you don't know.


Very Big Grin


As I Understand It


In My Opinion


If You See What I Mean


Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool


Ta Ta For Now


What The H...?

Thanks, Joona.

I like LART, in particular...

I'm sure I have enountered it before in the jargon file, but not in the
wild (as far as I remember).

Mac

 

[Mac]

From a Google Search: comp.lang.c regulars who use ``IANAL''
includes (inter alia) Daniel Fox, Arthur J. O'Dwyer, Dan Pop,
Bjorn Augestad, Steve (istartedi), Joona I Palaste, Chris Torek,
Richard Bos, Gergo Barany, Keith Thompson, CBFalconer, and
Christian Bau, in order of relevance.

Hmmm. I'm not willing to go back and look at the context, but it seems
possible that they all used the expression in a context where they felt
sure it would be understood, which is reasonable. I see IANAL used
frequently on Slashdot, but seldom elsewhere. I could be wrong. ;-)

It means ``Local User'' (according to
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/tcs/techsupp/acronyms.htm).


It means ``Please Log Off, Net Kook'' (according to
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/tcs/techsupp/acronyms.htm). But I
noticed that Eric Raymond's definition is different.


And "MMMV" in response to "YMMV". And "C&V". And "DP" for
Dan Pop, ad infinitum. Now I know why it is so difficult to
codify existing practices.

Yeah. They are a hodge-podge of ad-hoc rules. I think the best thing to do
is to keep to a mimimum number of abbreviations and acronyms. Even so, it
is probably best to spell things out for newbies, unless they specifically
state that they are not new to usenet (as occasionally happens).

If anything like an approved list emerges, I agree with DP that it should
be in the welcome message. ;-)

Tak-Shing

Mac