Acronyms used on Gun forums

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Grandpa Shooter

Grandpa Shooter

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Acronyms bug me. I grew up using the King's English and at that time there were few cases where acronyms were used. We had some abbreviations which were standard, such as FBI, GOP, KISS, etc.

I try to figure out what people are trying to say and have had to refer to the on-line dictionary of computerese and Internet jargon to even get a clue. I have figured out what a URL is but have no clue what it stands for.

Same is true for EBR, SBR and a host of others.

Any particular reason people can't take the time to speak and write the King's English anymore? Is every one in such a hurry they can't say what they mean?

Just curious:uhoh:
 
I would agree. The problem is that folks who consider themselves "insiders" feel they don't have to provide every language nuance to another hobbyist.

For example, I often use the word "pan." To most folks here that's a metal pot used in the kitchen for boiling and mixing. Not among my friends.

To them, it's a Harley built between 1949 and 1965.

Why do we refer to an automatic Colt as a "1911." After all, it was invented in 1905. However, if we all referred to Colts as 1905's we would confuse most of the guys signing on.

I've given up in asking about info "on the ricasso right behind the choil."

I just say, "Numbers on the tang stamp."
 
I'd love to explain but I have to get going. I have a LTD. (Lot To DO)

My ETA at my SO's job is 1:00 so if I don't hurry she'll be PO and I'll be SOL. Next thing you know she'll be yelling WTH and I'll have to hide my ACP so she doesn't shoot me with it. TTYL.
 
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URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator in King's English :) . OOB instead of out of battery just saves time. FTF, it's interesting: a snubbed round is an FTF, but are FTFs limited to snubbed rounds? And of course, a stovepipe is better than an FTE by a long way :) . Though FTEs are not limited to stovepipes, most certainly.
 
This is the way it is everywhere. I am a big AV (that's audio/video), car and computer enthusiast as well. We all have our own acronyms. It's the way it is, even in "real life" - especially in business. At my job I'm still figuring out corporate acronyms years later. Definitely not limited to the gun enthusiasts.

The hard part is when different "groups" use the same acronym but for different things.

Just the way it is these days :) Honestly, this is nothing compared to the teeny-boppers these days. Everything they say is an acronym or shortened in some way. Everything.

IMHO, YMMV.

Dope
 
FTF is fail to fire
or fail to feed?
These are two very different problems and I occasionally struggle to understand which is intended.

Does it vary based on if I'm in a revolver forum or semi-auto?
FTE seems more straight forward for eject/extract.
 
A few reasons I can think of, all valid and pretty much unstoppable:

1. In the early days of the internet is was important to conserve bandwidth and this conservation evolved into a style.

2. It is a social filter for particular and peculiar sub-cultures.

3. It is faster.

4. Acronyms and l33t are a must if you use a cell phone to text message.

The beauties of the "Kings English" are its adaptive, absorptive, and improvisational qualities.
 
Dope said:
Talk To You Later. Unless you were being sarcastic
Click to expand...

I hate to use "smilies" that often, but I think I've been here long enough for folks to understand gallows humor.

I will admit that I still get PMs from guys who are smoking hot or scared to death. It happens. It happened to me three weeks ago in another forum. I got so mad that I asked the mods to "ban" me for thirty days as a silent protest. Had I not done that, I would have been banned, for sure.

It's just the internet, but we forget that. I think of a fourm as not only an exchange of ideas, but also like a pitcher of beer with a few friends. Sooner or later we're going to rank a buddy--for fun.

So just so we're on the same page, let me post this:

Maelstrom :D
 
http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/

EBR= Evil Black Rifle
SBR= Short Barreled Rifle (a type of rifle with barrel less than 16" subject to the National Firearms Act of 1934 aka the NFA)

FTF can be Fail to Fire, Fail to Feed, or if selling/buying can be Face to Face (in-person sale).
FTRTB (or FTRB)= Failure to Return To Battery
SPJ= Stove Pipe Jam


As to the 1911 pistol, that is the makeup of the weapon when it was adopted. The 1905 version is different from the 1911 version and the Browning 1905 is different from that altogether.
 
I'd love to explain but I have to get going. I have a LTD. (Lot To DO)

My ETA at my SO's job is 1:00 so if I don't hurry she'll be PO and I'll be SOL. Next thing you know she'll be yelling WTH and I'll have to hide my ACP so she doesn't shoot me with it. TTYL.

ND. Not negligend discharge. NICELY DONE. :p
 
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I can live with acronyms but some are overly reliant on context. FTF being possibly the worst offender.

It's failure to fire if in the revolver forum.
failure to feed in the semi-auto area.
face to face in the for sale area.
fight the future if watching X-files.

But I'm sure a kitten gets stomped every time someone calls a shotgun a "shottie" or "shotty". The latter two terms should be reserved for spokesmodels at the SHOT show. Or something you might find on your sleeve during cold and flu season.
 
In context, acronyms can help speed comprehension. As I scan a comment and see "My BHP has FTF problems with JHPs, plus it's uncomfortable for IWB CC," I know precisely what the problems are. It's faster and even less confusing (oddly enough) than "My Hi-Power has failure-to-feed problems with jacketed hollow-point rounds, plus it's uncomfortable for inside-waistband concealed carry." Jargon makes it harder for "outsiders" to know what's going on, but the trade-off is that "insiders" get the picture faster.
 
I think I've posted this one before. I was a civilian training military personnell and when a LT rushed into the C&C and said
"We've got to get this SOP update from R&D to the BCEP at the FOB ASAP before the TTX goes MIA and we're all FUBAR. Oh and don't forget to BCC a message to yourself to CYA.
Click to expand...

and I understood every bit of what was said and what I should do... yup that was when I knew it was time to get into a different line of work!
 
SuperNaut and The Tourist covered most of it.

Even before Internet, folks of like kind, used shortcuts.

In the Medical field for instance, a lot of abbreviations , symbols and acronyms are used, some are based on Latin.

- BID is twice a day,
-Delta symbol means change,
-ACL is Anterior Cruciate Ligament (connective tissue of the knee; common injury)

In Information Technology (IT):
ACL is Access Control List


So if one is working as a IT person in a hospital, ACL can mean two different things.
IT is going to think access control list, while a doctor, nurse, rad tech, physical therapist is going to think "knee".

The poor fella standing near a IT and Nurse conversing in a hospital is going to wonder what the big deal is about Austin City Limits (PBS show), as that stupid TV in the waiting area is not showing it.


*grin*
 
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