Quote:
Originally Posted by silentC
and here was I thinking it was - situation normal (all ????ed up!)...... a wry way of saying how things often happen in the army / navy / any big organisation
Hafgan
Printable View
Quote:
Originally Posted by silentC
and here was I thinking it was - situation normal (all ????ed up!)...... a wry way of saying how things often happen in the army / navy / any big organisation
Hafgan
Silent,
You must be one great ball of fun at any gathering. But to be serious for a moment. Was your triple humour bypass painful.
Jerry
War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left.
That's exactly what it stands for. I think the 'simply defined as "situation normal"' is just giving a common short form that people use when they're being sarcastic. Like when someone says "such and such has had too much to drink" and you reply "situation normal". I guess that's where it came from.
A really useful one for someone like me is NFI, No ????ing Idea.
Actually, I believe that Enid Blyton termed 'TTFN', apparently used by Tigger???? in her Winnie the Pooh series. At least I think that's where it came from.
Just a moot point, one is usually better off quoting Aesop. It's much clearer and to the point. One doesn't have to self-interpret and all the stories are clear and concise.
toyboy,
I am deeply confused. I had no idea that Enid Blyton had any input into Winnie the Pooh. All these years I have attributed Winnie the Pooh with A A Milne. I'll probably learn soon that Biggles was written by Baron von Richthofen and that will entirely shatter my years of hero worship.
Jerry
War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left
I never was much of a one for fairy tales, Jerry :)
Silent,
If you are not into fairy stories don't believe everything you read in Wikipedia.
Jerry
War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left.
I certainly don't, but both of those articles have references and they are supported by the Macquarie Dictionary, so that's good enough for me.
However, I read an article on there recently which insists that there are a number of words in the English language that have a Q without a U, so I take that with a grain of salt.
Oops. You are quite correct about A.A. Milne. Sorry. It's old age catching up with me.:doh:
As for the fairie stories, I concur wholeheartedly, which is why I suggested Aesop's fables as opposed to those silly fairy stories.:D
Biggles by whom? Nah, it was Capt. W.E. Johns. :2tsup:
Toyboy,
I have read all of Biggles books. You may not believe it but I even owned a Tiger Moth for a few years VH-ULR.
My favourite Biggles title? Biggles Flies Undone
At the risk of offending some for which I apologise in advance. The King James Bible to me is sheer poetry. Belief in it is against my religion which is Orthodox Atheist but then they Say the Devil can quote the Bible for his own ends.
But we really have to stop soon as we have well and truly derailed this abbreviations thread. But it has been amusing, to me at least.
Jerry
War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left.
There is the World Health Food Organization or When H*** Freezes Over, WHFO.
LOML another term for SWMBO. (Love Of My Life)
A measurement term expressing a tiny length, RCH. (We won't go there, here)
As in reading instructions, RTFM or Read The Funny Manual.
anyone else noticed thats it's quicker to say
'World Wide Web",
than to say it's abbreviation, 'WWW' ? :rolleyes:
With all the acronyms above I thought that this might be amusing.
There was this computer center that used Control Data Computers. This was a batch oriented system and the users used their initials as their logon I/D. The remote users who used batch terminals (UT-200) to access the system were assigned two letter names for the remote terminal.
One evening I'm in the data center working on some support equipment. The system operator is attempting to help a remote user who had never operated the UT-200 terminal before.
The system operator was rather frustrated with the remote user and sort of swearing at his console. The system operator was getting more and more frustrated. I looked over his shoulder and noticed that he was starting a message to the remote user with the letters, "FY". I said, "You can't tell a user that!" The system operator didn't understand until I pointed to the "FY" on the screen. The system operator burst out laughing. He explained that the remote user was using remote terminal "FY". We both had a good laugh and the operators frustration was lowered substantially.
I used abbreviations largely back in the old modem dial in days to BBS networks, playing MUD. Basically text based computer games live with other people. You have to be quick, as there is no joystick or Playstation gamepad. Abbreviated sentences were the only way to get messages across quick before you got slayed by a magical Dwarf with healing powers. Also they were a general way to show emotion so people would not misunderstand that something you were saying was actually to be taken tongue in cheek. with a :) or LOL etc.
Widespread Internet access eliminated most BBSes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD