Well, TLAs in conversation can be quite useful once you are used to them - but I don't want to get into the ins and outs of what is permitted and why, but I would like to draw peoples attention to (if you are interested) : http://www.northants.lug.org.uk/jargon.htm Contains the most comment TLAs in use on our LUG mailing list (saves a bit of head scratching when they occur anyway :-) Kevin.
On 20 Dec 2000, at 13:07, kevin.taylor@powerconv.alstom.com wrote:
Well, TLAs in conversation can be quite useful once you are used to them -
Agreed, allows you to say a lot with a little. On my Slackware partition there's a "wtf" program, somewhere in /usr/games/, don't know if it's part of SuSE. If you type "wtf rtfm" from the command line for example, it'll explain to you what that TLA means. Try "wtf wtf" as well :)
but I don't want to get into the ins and outs of what is permitted and why,
I'm all for TLAs, within reason. They carry so much more meaning than the words they represent. For example IANAL strictly means "I am not a lawyer". But do the situations it's been used in it really means something like "I don't work in the legal profession, so don't take what I say as the statement of a legal expert, merely as a statement from an interested and possibly knowledgable party. Also I am not responsible for any action you take as a result of the advice I've just given." Well, that how it seems to me, then again YMMV ;) Useful URL left in:
but I would like to draw peoples attention to (if you are interested) : http://www.northants.lug.org.uk/jargon.htm
Contains the most comment TLAs in use on our LUG mailing list (saves a bit of head scratching when they occur anyway :-)
-- Nick Drage - half understanding Pegasus until he gets his Linux partition sorted out......
Definitely confused about Demon now. Our school dial up account with Demon has a dynamically assigned IP address (DAIPA)! Are there other sorts of Demon accounts<<
I think that you will find that most dial-up accounts have DAIPA (via modem at least) (otherwise the range would soon run out!) But you should have a (pair) of IP's for access to the Internet - e.g. for Freeserve, if you search (say) Google for something like 'Freeserve dialup "no cd" ' you will find details of these IP address, you could try similar for Demon - or just call them and speak to their marketing/technical people, most (non-free) ISP's are very helpful and may even give you a free account for your personal use, I have several! :-) Sorry James to hijack your thread...
Agreed, allows you to say a lot with a little.
On my Slackware partition there's a "wtf" program, somewhere in /usr/games/, don't know if it's part of SuSE. If you type "wtf rtfm" from the command line for example, it'll explain to you what that TLA means. Try "wtf wtf" as well :)
I'm all for TLAs, within reason. They carry so much more meaning than the words they represent. For example IANAL strictly means "I am not a lawyer". <snip>
Since I brought it up, I think that I ought to have the last say :-) I don't see any point in getting into an embittered argument over this, it was really an observation, Of course I can see it's merits but surly the point is to de-mistify LINUX and bring it to a wider audience not invent even more gobbledegook. As pointed out, there are glossaries of geek talk, but I've now got to the stage were I rarely reach for my Oxford English Dictionary (OED). I don't really want to start again. Also (and no comments necessary please) not everyone uses LINUX workstations, so I read my mail on a 98 box, LINUX for me is a server and (still) a novelty (I don't have the time to research all the software to turn it into the workhorse that my 98 boxes are (and convert thousands of files) - By the way, Anyone out there who has not tried Star Office by Sun should have a look, it's smooth, non clunky and does most of what I want. I just couldn't use Aplix (or whatever it's called), yesterday I uploaded AbiWord (to a PC)(sure I've seen this on the spectrum?) It's quite nice but rather limited (not to say that I wouldn't be proud to have written it!). - My point being that people should not assume everyone else puts LINUX to the same use as themselves. It's a case of horses for courses. So although meant as a helpful tip (and thank you for it), the above is next to useless to me! So, lets put away the crayons and try to use big words in the year to come :-)~ (I've only just got used to these - me with my tongue out!) PS If anyone knows of good (free?) examples of the following for LINUX, I'd like to know. Drawing CAD 2D/3D/render PCB CAD - With schematic input & Gerber output, 4 copper layers adequate, autoroute, nice but not necessary HTML editors/tools (using DreamWeaver on the PC) Accounting software 'visual' programming language C++ editor/compiler - really must get back into this if I'm to use the LINUX box Desktop Publishers (I use Corel but don't want to pay for another!) 3D Rendering (that's easy to use - again I use Corel) Kind regards Adrian
Sorry James to hijack your thread... That's OK Adrian, it is Christams after all. Also thought I'd nod my head in agreement over your thoughts on THREE LETTER ACRONYMS. For me they just make me lose the jist of what I reading, hindering not helping.
James
Sorry James to hijack your thread... That's OK Adrian, it is Christams after all. Also thought I'd nod my head in agreement over your thoughts on THREE LETTER ACRONYMS. For me they just make me lose the jist of what I reading, hindering not helping.
James
James, we really can't have this kind of thing, Christmas or not!!! It's a Three Letter ABBREVIATION, an Acronym is quite different. acronym /"akr.nîm/ n. a word, usu. pronounced as such, formed from the initial letters of other words (e.g. Ernie, laser, Nato). Greek akron 'end' + onuma = onoma 'name' (Encarta '98) IANAL but QED! :-) Have a good one, Adrian
<snip>
THREE LETTER ACRONYMS. For me they just make me lose the jist of what I reading, hindering not helping.
Fair point, but if you read/use them often enough they become words in their own right, same as TCP/IP, POP3, PPP and so on... but YM... er, you may disagree with me ;)
James, we really can't have this kind of thing, Christmas or not!!! It's a Three Letter ABBREVIATION, an Acronym is quite different.
*ahem* http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/TLA.html -- Nick Drage - half understanding Pegasus until he gets his Linux partition sorted out......
How about this then.... TLAs are pointless (TAP, surely an acronym) TLAs are useless (TAU, abbreviation) !!! Of course IANAL (I am not a linguist) James Carter
We could get silly and copy Lewis Carroll ... TLAs are pointless (TAP, surely an acronym) Are TLAs pointless (ATP, an abbreviation) Are pointless TLAs (APT, a meaningless acronym) ;) ____________________________________ Giles Nunn - Network Manager Carms Schools ICT Development Centre Tel: +44 01239 710662 Fax: 710985 ____________________________________ On Thu, 21 Dec 2000, [iso-8859-1] James H. Carter & Cyb�le de Jong wrote:
How about this then....
TLAs are pointless (TAP, surely an acronym) TLAs are useless (TAU, abbreviation) !!!
Of course IANAL (I am not a linguist) James Carter
Hi, On 21 Dec 2000, at 10:43, Adrian Wells wrote:
Definitely confused about Demon now. Our school dial up account with Demon has a dynamically assigned IP address (DAIPA)! Are there other sorts of Demon accounts
I think that you will find that most dial-up accounts have DAIPA (via modem at least) (otherwise the range would soon run out!) But you should have a (pair) of IP's for access to the Internet
A "pair" of IP addresses for Internet access, how do you mean? <snip>
On my Slackware partition there's a "wtf" program, somewhere in /usr/games/, don't know if it's part of SuSE. If you type "wtf rtfm" from the command line for example, it'll explain to you what that TLA means. Try "wtf wtf" as well :)
I'm all for TLAs, within reason. They carry so much more meaning than the words they represent. For example IANAL strictly means "I am not a lawyer". <snip>
Since I brought it up, I think that I ought to have the last say :-)
*looks away while he scrolls past that bit*
I don't see any point in getting into an embittered argument over this,
Agreed, actually this is one of the better lists for being able to disagree with people without getting into a slanging match - no-one's going to learn anything from personal insults. Well, apart from maybe a couple of new words.
it was really an observation, Of course I can see it's merits but surly the point is to de-mistify LINUX
Such TLA's predate Linux, and you'll find them popping up again and again in techie conversations around the Internet. Because of their prevalence, and usefulness, I think they're worth learning. Of course you might disagree.
and bring it to a wider audience not invent even more gobbledegook.
This "gobbledegook" has a fine and honourable history, I wouldn't count it as an recent invention.
As pointed out, there are glossaries of geek talk, but I've now got to the stage were I rarely reach for my Oxford English Dictionary (OED). I don't really want to start again.
Fair enough.
Also (and no comments necessary please) not everyone uses LINUX workstations, so I read my mail on a 98 box, LINUX for me is a
Agreed, I'm still sat on my W2K partition myself. <snip>
- My point being that people should not assume everyone else puts LINUX to the same use as themselves. It's a case of horses for courses.
Definitely, if I implied otherwise I didn't mean to. Windows certainly has its uses, it's certainly been easier to set up my Internet access and email on this Windows partition than it will be on the Linux partition. <snip>
So, lets put away the crayons and try to use big words in the year to come :-)~ (I've only just got used to these - me with my tongue out!)
See, ":)" means "include a smile with the previous sentence", so
learning the new punctuation has been useful. :)
*ducks*
On Wednesday 20 December 2000 23:09, Nick Drage wrote:
On 20 Dec 2000, at 13:07, kevin.taylor@powerconv.alstom.com wrote:
Well, TLAs in conversation can be quite useful once you are used to them -
Agreed, allows you to say a lot with a little.
On my Slackware partition there's a "wtf" program, somewhere in /usr/games/, don't know if it's part of SuSE. If you type "wtf rtfm" from the command line for example, it'll explain to you what that TLA means. Try "wtf wtf" as well :)
It's in the bsd-games RPM and can be retrieved from: http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=wtf Personally I think TLA's are a PITA (Pain In The Arse). You either have to expand them anyway to ensure that everyone reading the mail knows what you mean (as above) or you have to assume (one of the most dangerous words in the English language) that all the readers know what you mean; for example I had no idea whar IANAL meant.
but I don't want to get into the ins and outs of what is permitted and why,
I'm all for TLAs, within reason. They carry so much more meaning than the words they represent. For example IANAL strictly means "I am not a lawyer". But do the situations it's been used in it really means something like "I don't work in the legal profession, so don't take what I say as the statement of a legal expert, merely as a statement from an interested and possibly knowledgable party. Also I am not responsible for any action you take as a result of the advice I've just given."
Well, that how it seems to me, then again YMMV ;)
Useful URL left in:
but I would like to draw peoples attention to (if you are interested) : http://www.northants.lug.org.uk/jargon.htm
Contains the most comment TLAs in use on our LUG mailing list (saves a bit of head scratching when they occur anyway :-)
-- Gary Stainburn This email does not contain private or confidential material as it may be snooped on by interested government parties for unknown and undisclosed purposes - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000
<snip>
Personally I think TLA's are a PITA (Pain In The Arse). You either have to expand them anyway to ensure that everyone reading the mail knows what you mean (as above) or you have to assume (one of the most dangerous words in the English language) that all the readers know what you mean; for example I had no idea whar IANAL meant.
Good point, I'll try and think of where I'm emailing in future, and not presume because I'm on a techie list that the audience are "techies", or "nerds", depending on your interpretation :) -- Nick Drage - half understanding Pegasus until he gets his Linux partition sorted out......
<snip>
Personally I think TLA's are a PITA (Pain In The Arse). You either have to expand them anyway to ensure that everyone reading the mail knows what you mean (as above) or you have to assume (one of the most dangerous words in the English language) that all the readers know what you mean; for example I had no idea what IANAL meant.
Good point, I'll try and think of where I'm emailing in future, and not presume because I'm on a techie list that the audience are "techies", or "nerds", depending on your interpretation :)
-- Nick Drage - half understanding Pegasus until he gets his LINUX partition sorted out......
The problem is that IANAL is NOT technical, it's just smart Alec, lazy and adds nothing to the text other than to slow it down, whereas NIC, URL, ISDN, MPC, CPU, HDD, SCSI, PCMCIA, POP3, SMTP, VDU, CAT5, MoDem, PCI, VGA, CMOS, TTL, CD, ROM, RAM, DIMM, POST, http, www, ad infinitum, have only one meaning in our context (apart from DVD which keeps changing!). I have to admit that I can never remember what PCMCIA stands for, but I know exactly what it is, an expensive to fill hole on the side of a laptop! :-( :-) etc. require little or now prior knowledge other than a predisposition of the brain to recognise faces, the need for the visual cortex to work a little harder and the muscles in the left and right hand side of the neck to contract in sequence. The other big difference is that they DO add to the text, being a shorthand for the emotion/mood of the author. Of course all shorthand is open to interpretation. :-)~ Adrian PS Nick, what is Pegasus ?
<snip>
PS Nick, what is Pegasus ?
Excellent mail client for Windows, see http://www.pmail.com/ for details. -- Nick Drage - half understanding Pegasus until he gets his Linux partition sorted out......
participants (6)
-
Adrian Wells -
Gary Stainburn -
Giles Nunn -
James H. Carter & Cybèle de Jong -
kevin.taylor＠powerconv.alstom.com -
Nick Drage