Engineering Literacy

DTC,

TLA ?
OMG !
K.

SWALK

< no ******* chance !>

SWALK!

Sealed with a loving kiss!

Soooo sentimental...............

...it's true. I had to hide my blushes.

Sometimes it is a case of too much information that causes the poor reader or listener to scratch their head in confusion. Here are a few real examples I tackled recently that I was able to decipher after carefully going over the material to find out what they were actually trying to say.

From a military site

"overwhelm target characterization uncertainties" - Blow it up.

From a scientific study

"We propose the formation of interagency societal impact subgroups to coordinate
education and public outreach on the health and environmental impacts of nanotechnology" - We want to put together a team

(continuing on......) "This information will minimize the likelihood that the public develops polarized perceptions of nanotechnology based on rumour and supposition and hence avoid potential overreactions" - .....to teach the public about nanotechnology.

Other examples are people using cell phone txt slang (this can get very confusing), or just making acronyms up and expecting us to know what they mean.

.......And a few comical engineering ones (no, I am not going to list any Dilbert Gems. someone else can do that)...

"unscheduled disassembly" - It blew up. It wasn't supposed to blow up, and I was looking in the other direction so I did not see it blow up. I have no other samples, and that really was a good explosion I missed. Damn.

....And finally good old Douglas Adams.......

"Suddenly the <device> suffered spontaneous, catastrophic existence failure" - We don't know what the f#$k happened but its gone now and I think we should all be thankful that we are still here and in one piece.

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

spontaneous catastrophic existince failure???? thats excellent !!!!

I didn't want to be the first to express an opinion on this issue. However now that you have opened the discussion, let's go. I am amazed at some of the brilliant minds that are represented on these forums. It makes it all too clear to me how much I don't know. I am also amazed at the level of advanced college degree that can be achieved without the ability to construct a complete sentence.

On the answering side of the discussions we can be tolerant of and gracious to those for whom English is a second language. On the question side the use of spell-check would save a lot of confusion. It would also help if a sufficient amount of information were given so that the question could be answered.

One more issue. These questions are asked by someone who is obviously sitting at a computer that is connected to the internet. Yet many questions are answered by someone who just does a google search and passes the info along. Try a little research on your own before asking a question, then ask a good question.

There is nothing wrong with my handwriting. You are just not familiar with the font.

Gary

Although I know that a great deal of information is available on the internet when I post an answer to a scientific or engineering question I like to depend as far as possible on my own knowledge and reccolections.

I know my views are not always correct but wrong answers will lead to interesting discussion!

I agree completely. It really irks me when a sentence doesn't have a

Hi Del the Cat (DTC), This is a worthwhile point. I read recently that some poor person felt 'astonied' (astonished). What does "lol" mean? Davo

Del, many of us feel your pain, but please spare a thought for those of us who are really suffering. My good wife has gone back to uni to study nursing, this involves studying a small amount of medicine and a large amount of "Nursing Philosophy". Reports that I, as a verbally challenged engineer, think could be answered with a few hundred words, instead take thousands and include padding like "..holistic approach as practiced by the multi functional medical resource team..". Instead of being crossed out with a red pencil, this verbage is rewarded with a tick and ultimately high marks. However, I must admit her spelling and punctuation are excellent. Jeff

For me a non-native English speaker, I do compose in Word before posting. At least helps my poor spelling and grammar. It corrects my spelling errors and even my sentences.

I have to totally agree that if one is going to use acronyms then they should be spelled out in the start of a dissertation. In scientific usage that is the understood format. When a discussion goes worldwide and the acronyms are not understood outside of a particular country or even a part of a country the confusion can grow and the original idea may never be unfolded.

Or in other words if you use acronyms and the other party you are trying to communicate with doesn't understand, then you might as well spell it out because you aren't communicating

Hi Kitty kitty,

I agree with you 100%! There's absolutely no excuse for some of the downright carelessness that gets posted. Maybe we should create sort of an urban dictionary of undecipherables. If we could add it as a button on the CR4 editor tool bar, anyone could immediately link to it, see the true meaning and... Ah-ha! The world would be such a better place.

Thanks for bringing this up Mr. Cat. This post bears careful scrutiny by many. As you say, no offense to ESL posters. But for Heaven's sake, push the spell check button before you submit (unless you consciously intend for your wording to be as submitted)!

There's also something known as proofreading (read it before you submit it).

Anyone who doesn't know what 'ESL' stands for can look up several meanings at:

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Davo, the land of OZ is usually called (and spelt) Australia. Jeff

Wat?

Yesterday I cudnt spel ingeneer and now I are one?

Acronyms are on the Red List, though as they are being discharged into cyberspace, that is OK.

Yeh, but what exactly is OK an acronym for???????????????

Oo! Oo! i know! OK = oll korrect, not Scandinavian as it looks, but more a facetious alteration of all correct. Nyah nyah nyah...........

I thought the term 'OK' or the spelt version of 'Okay' came from the telegraph days when it was an easy and quick way to acknowledge that the message had been received...

Is it because the morse code was simpler?

John

-. --- --- -. . -.- -. --- .-- ...

From www.thefreedictionaryonline.com

[Abbreviation of oll korrect, slang respelling of all correct.] Word History: OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: "frightful letters ... significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, 'all correct' .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions ... to make all things O.K."

That's Quite Interesting.

Hey PW.... how did you get a link in place for your 'Quite interesting' comment??

I think this is http://interesting did that work?

Hmmmmmm let's try this then

Oooooooooo that's worked I think....

Just like that!

Word History: OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread..

Somewhere I have read that OK was widely used by soldiers during the US Civil War when returning from battlefront meaning O (zero) Kills (dead)

I don't know how education in the United Kingdom (UK) has evolved through the last few decades, but in the United States (US), the subject we (I am assuming a collective we) all knew as "English" is now referred to as "Language Arts" (LA, not to be confused with Los Angeles, ........but......maybe somehow it is).

I have theorized that the term LA was concocted to satiate the "Politically Correct" (PC) notion that it not PC to associate the language spoken in the US with, god forbid, the UK.

Hence, LA, being an "art", is subject to ones PC interpretation and is not bound by rules of usage in the US.

Do you have LA for the PC's in the UK?

In the UK, 'LA' means Luton Airport.

Luton Airport is just up the road from me and I've never heard it called LA.... a lot of other names but not LA

John.

Actually, thats quite an insult to LA..........

Ever since Lorraine Chase made a name for Luton Airport (the wrong name mind you) there's just no way you can insult Luton Airport any more....

John.

'Lorraine Chase'

(shudder) Ohhhhhhhhh! Say it againnnn...........

How about the origin of "it's just dreadful, he can't even speak the King's English."

Usually refers to someone who has pispropouncitation.

Fork Handles!

There you go sir, four candles

No, four candles, andle's for fork's........

Oh, no. Here we go....

You may not know, but at Ronnie's funeral, instead of the traditional 2 candles at the head of the procession, the vicar arranged for ...well, you've guessed it!

Fork Handles!

[Explanation: for the reader not in touch with classic UK television comedy of The Two Ronnies' variety: this is another way of saying, "four candles" in wordplay, particularly with a Cockney or Estuary English accent. The comedy came to light in a well-loved sketch where a ruffian Labourer, played by the late Ronnie Barker, enters a traditional hardware shop and reads from a list of commonly-available household items, the pronounciation of which could be open to appropriate, and humourous, misinterpretation. The sketch continues with Ronnie Corbett, playing a Shopkeeper in flat cap and brown warehouse coat rummaging around and finding four candles (sic) in a box and putting them upon the counter, whereupon Ronnie Barker, somewhat surprised, says, "No, fork 'andles!", putting the shopkeeper into comedic disapproval of the customer to the amusement of both the studio audience and the viewer at home. The four candles go away, and fork handles come out. The sketch continues (expecting PlbMak to follow suit with more than a little trepidation)...]

Got any plugs?

What size?

Bathroom.

Rubber ones?

Yeah. Rubber ones (looks a bit strangely at the Shopkeeper).

We seem to have missed the 13amp line somewhere!

And the one about bath plugs or sink plugs. Quit while we are ahead?

This link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ&mode=related&search= will take you to the two ronnies sketch in question.

Al

Thanks for that link, its ages since I've heard that sketch...

John.

Americans can't speak English anyway so your welcome to your PC LA.

Al

Americans can't speak English anyway so ***your*** welcome to your PC LA.

Well, old chap, is appears that you for one, can't write it!

Don't take this personally; I had to do it.

Well, old chap, ***is*** appears that you for one, can't write it!

Touché old chap! That's French not a spelling mistake!

Don't take this personally; I had to do it.

You guys are quite entertaining.

Rather than touche', I believe it was parry and riposte, or re-post as the case may be.

Gary

We got each other on that Alan, but please, please, lets keep the the French out of this.

Sacré bleu! 'Ow did ah manege to get 'ere? Mai oui, m'sieur, please to keep me ahowt!

This rapidly degenerated from engineering 'literacy' to engineering 'lunacy'...thank heavens! Obtw, the only place "pispropouncitation" is found on the entire Internet is apparently this thread... Well, and the one where I was when I found the word. I feel like I'm through the looking glass for sure, now!

Good point! The other explanatory that I like is where an abbreviated term, regardless of how common to the writer, [say, LCS, for low carbon steel] is immediately defined, perhaps in either of two ways: ......... LCS (low carbon steel)..... or low carbon steel, (LCS). This is particularly vexing in reading in a field in which one is not truly fluent in terms and abbreviations. A good rule is to remember that not everyone graduated last year!

rotflmao

Perhaps engineers use their brains differently.

I have run across many brilliant programmers and EE's, that struggle with language.

One programmer in particular is brilliant, but is severely dyslexic. That situation has always left me confused. Spelling and documentation is frustrating to read, but the algorithms and solutions are outstanding.

O M G

They're everywhere. Only another 17573 to go.

Here's a great link for internet slang and acronimn translation.

I do like your morphing avatar!

It's as confusing as my puctuation (almost ). Excellent .

Thanks Doc,

I'll ave another drink and cheers to you.

Just like entering any foreign country got to learn the lingo to survive. Now you ask the natives to be more explanatory when they speak. They then give you that dumb expression for not knowing. Then their LOL

Del, here's one: "plugge" for "plug." I saw that gem written on a repair work order one day. I also saw in the shipping/receiving area of the same manufacturing plant, a large dry-erase sign that read:

Pallets Shipped_______

Pallets Brung______

Gotta love it!

Regards,

Ing. Robert Forbus

Del;

C M DUCKS?

M R NOT DUCKS.

O S A R, C M FEATHERS?

L I B, M R DUCKS!

Enjoy!

Good one!!!

Here's an ancient one for you, JJ:

YY U R,
YY U B,

I C U R

YY MEMEMEME!

Enjoy!

C D ('') ('')

M N O ('') ('')

O S A R, C D B D i i i

('')=bug

O S, I C D B D iii!

ROFLMAO!!!