SCOTUS & POTUS

Here's a new topic that won't last long but it's something that's been on my mind and mind you, I'm not bringing up any political discussion with this whatsoever. So this is my beef...

I've been seeing more and more headlines using these two acronyms in the last few years. I really dislike these terms. They always seem like code words for gross bodily functions, not two of the most prestigious and serious functions of the federal government. You can argue that they're just letters from a 26-letter alphabet but I'm not going for it. They're ugly and they're sloppy, lazy, and therefore in my opinion disrespectful.

Now you know the rest of the story. Egg post are generally fascinating . "The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words." - William H. Gass

Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day B) :) :) B)

CIAK. LOL. I knew that. I'd acrylic asked once before...I was just going with thread and having fun.

Thank you for the correction. Wendy's is correct. My bad. The point was the phrase.It has become an all-purpose phrase questioning the substance of an idea. CIAK has many definitions. I have Sicilian relatives who could not pronounce my name " Chuck" from script. CIAK was the best we could do and works very well

Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day B) :) :) B)

For that matter.... what the hell is a CIAK?

Whatever you do, don't go to a BK and ask "WTB", coz they might point across the street at the red headed girl named Wendy. ;)

KFC, sparked a couple LBJ, FDR, JFK to mention a few Presidents of The United States ( POTUS ) From the famous BK "Where's the beef??" Ha,he he Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day B) :) :) B)

I'll tell ya what really burns my britches. It's disrespectful to the state, to the citizens, to the majestic bird, to the art of cooking in hot oil, aND to the man that traveled around the country showing people that his special blend of 27 herbs and spices was truly special. Long live the Colonel.

Bah humbug on KFC

I contend that language change has happened for thousands of years, and would argue that it should be embraced as inevitable, and innovative. Coming from this prospective it is just as legitimate as those in "proper" English Roofguy I agree with you. There are times I'll argue out of boredom Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day B) :) :) B)

10-4

Same with UV, SBS, APP, BYOB, RSVP. All of these are technical terms as well. I'm not gettin on you either. Don't get me wrong. You're a very smart, talented, multi-dimensional, successful, creative man. I get nothing from taking little jabs at people and I'm not doing it here and certainly not to you.

What I'm saying, I think, is that certain things which may very well have a technical component to them are deserving of an amount of respect that exceeds the acronym threshold. Call it analogue if you like, or call it poetic, or call it sacred. It's a little ironic. JHWH was the acronym for that which must never be named. So I submit we now have the two ends of the spectrum of naming, each end subject to acronym substitution.

But stand back and look at it from a distance. We don't do the PoA to the flag with our hand over our heart, or sing the SSB and GBA. We don't elect a POTUS in November and, you get my point. Some things just deserve more time. More juice. Even if the atheists somehow win the day, what I'm doing isn't simply subjecting the world to the bugs built into my imperfect biological version of a perfect code. When I'm firing on all cylinders I'm using way more analysis than any machine can and I'm looking at parts of life that a machine has no interest in.

Some names deserve more than shorthand notation for reasons that go beyond simple economics or logistics. When I say "my Dad" instead of "my father," it's not because it's quicker. It's because it's more endearing. It has a more intimate human connection. POTUS is not more endearing. It's actually ugly. But I repeat myself.

Eggers, youse is a true treat. Eyes in yerevan camp on this egg-greeshus use of DUH FACTOR.

The more disassociated you are from a group that uses the Acronyms ,the more that use stands out. It will be invisible to that group. Language is used to communicate period. The origin of the phrase is in telegraph code developed for news agencies before the telephone. It is recorded in a book known as The Phillips Code published in 1879, first as 'POT', quickly becoming POTUS. Telegraphic codes were used to save money, but could not be secret. Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day B) :) :) B)

You can submit that Tim, if you like, and you won't find me arguing with you about it because I understand what you're saying. It's a perfectly good reason. But it's only a reason, not an excuse.

I use acronyms myself. ASAP is a good one. SNAFU is another good one. LOL is now a very common and good one. It even sounds like what it is which makes it even better. NRCA is plenty good enough though when I refer to them when speaking I will often utter the complete version so people don't think I'm just spouting acronyms they don't know for effect.

In my experience, from before I was in the seventh grade to now, fifty-six years later, all seventh and other graders would say The President or The Supreme Court and we all knew they weren't talking about the class president or the state supreme court. Nobody ever said, "I'm going to take it all the way to the scotus." or "Who's running for potus next year?"

Seventh graders wouldn't know what we're talking about. The way I hear it, Supreme Court usually takes up a tad more than two syllables, but not really three and President takes three but takes less time and energy than potentate and is a lot more literally descriptive than potus. If I can get a ton more exact meaning by adding an "i" in between two syllables, you know I'll never even consider using a term like potus. Or Xmas.

FBI and CIA & Etc. are what they mean and they don't generate deviant word meaning when you say them.

But don't worry. I don't talk to seventh graders at their verbal level because they expect more or need to expect more or ought to expect more and I stand by my belief, but I'm done @#%$ ing. All y'all cain hope an pray with me and r hopin an aprayin will shorely transpotus t' sum peace o' mine. lol.

Hate lazy talk. With all this social media communication and their abbreviations for words and sayings, you need to constantly Google crap to find out the content of what they are saying. I may be just a DORFC but I still make an endeavour to preserve the English language.

Wish I could help but I'm just a DORFA!

"Dumb Ole Roofer from Alabama" :dry: