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This is really a partner to Batu Kawa's "unusual words" topic.
Living in the "colonies", we tend to get out of touch with the current buzz words, acronyms and abbreviations in routine use. When they crop up in writing or speech, we quite often "don't get it".
Two acronyms immediately come to mind. In the "Paranoid Schizophrenic" post, the term "CBR" was used. I'm thinking "Criminal Background Report", but would like a translation, please.
The other one that has puzzled me for years is "QUANGO". I know it means "Quasi non-governmental organisation", but that doesn't explain what it is. My guesses are that it's either a government organisation that's pretending not to be, or a private organisation that's trying to look like it's the government. Neither really make sense. Can someone please explain?
Feel free to come up with your own, particularly if you see US ones that don't "click". I can probably explain those.
Frank
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
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The word is CRB Frank, not CBR. It stands for Criminal Record Bureau .
I can only thing of TARDIS at the moment. Time and Relative Distance in Space.
Good old Doctor Who.[:p]
Quango, something set up by government that achieves nothing but keeps people in well paid jobs. Another tax.
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Quango –noun, plural (esp. in Great Britain) a semi-public advisory and administrative body supported by the government and having most of its members appointed by the government.
That is the "official" meaning of the word, however I much prefer Noel's definition.
I like this thread, it might prove to be a good one.
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My husband started a new project at work and before he even begins he has to learn all the acronyms for regular words. The book is about 2"thick. He even had to go to a class on preparing for it. Forget the engineering side of it.
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Acronyms
Absurdly Contrived Representations Of Names Yielding Mass Stupefication
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My husband would agree with that Noel. I wonder who thought up the idea.
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Although I am not aware of this being used as an acronym I am sure some very clever member can come up with a definition of UP.
A look at UP
English has a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings
than any other two-letter word, and that word is up.
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the
top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we
wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP,
and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the
secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room,
polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP
the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old
car.
At other times the little word has a real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an
appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: a drain must be opened UP because it
is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the
word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it
takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty
definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the
many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but
if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the
sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it doesn’t rain for
awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now my time
is UP, so, time to shut UP …!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Apologies to Noel for the extra long posting.
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Is this a send UP? UP to now, postings on the subject have been UP to standard. Start UP a new thread and you never know what will come UP. It`s UP to the poster to decide if the post is UP to scratch. Sorry, I give ........UP.
Jim
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Thanks to you both for the good laugh I have just enjoyed.( sorry couldn't fit any ups in that.)
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