General Chat

I can't answer for all Australians, Rollo, but I am very prone to navel gaze.

The last time I was really inwards looking was when I had a colonoscopy :-D :-D

Back in the 80s I used to buy a nice thick thriller to while away the tedium of flying. A favorite was Tom Clancy. His hero Jack Ryan was acted in several movies by Harrison Ford. Clancy was fond of acronyms Inc POTUS as are other writers of thrillers.

is Australia then even more inward looking than it seems?
Or maybe Allan just avoids vox pop.

If you like acronyms then "the Ipcress File" is a good read and great movie starring Michael Caine.

it definitely could be one answer :-D :-D :-D :-D

Oh dear.

Sylvia, thanks for that, but isn't DT an acronym for something associated with alcoholism?

Mind you, with President Trump, that may be one answer :-D :-D

Allan

you are down under!!

We've heard it lots of times .............. but then we are only just north of there!

I don't think any other country has been interested enough to take heed of what the Secret Service does.

After all, the Obama government was the first one to set up a POTUS account on Twitter!

Now of course used by DT

I'm probably like you, Allan. acronyms - whoosh - right over my head.
Just say what it means, and if it's too long and 'farty', use fewer words!!!

Sylvia, the acronyms may have been around for over a century, but it is only recently, and on this site, that I have been aware of them :-D :-D

POTUS and FLOTUS have long been the acronyms given to the President and First Lady by the US Secret Service detail

It began as an acronym given by telegraph code operators before 1900 (Merriam-Webster dictionary). The earliest known usage is 1895


another acronym for you, devised by the same telegraphic code was SCOTUS ..... or Supreme Court of the United States

Which is more correct ER II or Windsor 1 ?

I worked for the MOD (MInistry of Defence) and that is how we always had to use acronyms. The first time in a document the acronym followed by the meaning, or the other way round, the remainder of the document we could use the acronym alone.

POTUS has been used since the days of the telegraph where reducing the number of characters in a message was important.

I don't know, though, they both produce a lot of hot air! :-D :-D :-D

:-D :-D :-D :-D

Probably better then PRIMAUS which sounds like a portable stove for cooking... :-D

Do you think the Prime Minister should be referred to as the PRIMUK?
It sounds like a vomit.......................... :-D

:-D :-D :-D @Sharron and Bob

LOL I've seen POTUS but only on this thread have I sussed what it is meant to be



Bob

I have been a guider with the brownies for almost 17 years and the number of acronyms that guiding uses is quite incredible. Trying to remember them all is terrifying for a newbie.

Acronyms!!!! The bane of my life at the moment :-|
My current job is in Education - acronym after bl**dy acronym. I have to go through reports, and write the acronym in full the first time it's used.
I have a 'cheat sheet', 20 pages long of the most commonly used ones - which I have added to - yet still have to shout across the office at least once a week, when 'googling' has failed - 'Anyone know what 'XYZ' stands for?

The problem with acronyms is that two different organisations can have the same acronym for their respective areas...as I found to my cost in Germany whilst with the Army Reserve.

We were just told to go to an LAD; the Engineers in the unit said that it was a Light Aid Detachment (Engineering area) while others said no, it was a Light Air Defence Regiment (Infantry).

By the time we had travelled all around the countryside visiting various infantry and engineering units when we did eventually find the right one everyone had locked up and gone home