richter

I hate acronyms and I make no secret of it. They confuse things. If I type “wb” to you, what’s the chance you’ll know what that means? Assumption within communication leaves a lot of room for failure. It’s the same with using big words: sure, you’ve probably accumulated a large vocabulary during your college years, but is there any guarantee that the person you’re communicating with knows the same words? Nope, so use them sparingly or you risk being an inefficient communicator.

Marge: Homer, has the weight loss tape reduced your appetite?
Homer: Ah, lamentably no. My gastronomic rapacity knows no satiety.

Hilarious, but lost on many people upon initial viewing.

Furthermore, as a web developer with a demand for standards, I find them irritating. If I want to type out something quickly (as in, say, this blog post), it defeats the purpose, because we all should be using this syntax:

<acronym title="JavaScript">JS</acronym>

… but it seems like a majority of web devs don’t. It’s a shame.

Next, there’s ambiguity. Here at Yahoo!, we use YML and YML, which are completely different (and right about now I’m betting you’re glad I actually use <acronym> because otherwise you wouldn’t know WTF). Notice a problem here? And then some people say explicitly Y-M-L, and others pronounce it “Yam-ul.” Confusing!

Lastly, there’s preference. I’ve noticed some people use BBIAB and others use BIAB. The difference is minimal, sure, but I’ve known some people that get really annoyed with that extra B in there. And me? Not only do I hate acronyms in general, but I get very irritated when people send “k” to me. I have a difficult time articulating exactly what bothers me so much about this, but I think it’s something along the lines of, “holy shit are you seriously so lazy you can’t put an ‘o’ in there to make yourself easily understood?!”

So acronyms have their place, sure, and sometimes are used quite well. But do not sacrifice being clearly understood for a few measly keystrokes. And once you’ve read this, please, don’t type “k” to me and expect me to still be courteous to you.