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Subject:RE: List of std abbreviations? From:"Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- kinzan -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 4 Jan 2001 12:15:43 -0800
I asked: <<Does anyone know of a good list of standard
> abbreviations, preferably online...>>
>
And Geoff Hart replied:
> ...this is a good job for a
> dictionary or printed style guide, most of which list common
> abbreviations.
> ... using a specific dictionary or style book,
> ...as the basis for your list, then create an online
> version ... on your intranet. (fwiw,
> if you can't find an abbreviation in a small standard office dictionary,
> that's a strong hint that you should reconsider using it...
While this is what I was trying to avoid, it's probably something
like what I'll end up doing. I wish I could use an intranet or
tell everyone to walk down the hall and consult the paperback
American Standard Dictionary!
Here's the scoop:
I'm supporting a team that consists of core developers and
development partners. Application APIs to be included in a suite
of tools will be developed by the core team and by partners on
several continents. In general, developers will come up with
good ideas to be included and begin coding, so it will be next
to impossible to anticipate all of their needs. Obviously, they
won't all be native speakers of English, but the language of the
APIs will be English.
I am currently developing the coding standards that the developers
will use as well as documenting the platform API that the applications
will sit on.
My dream is to provide them with a URL at which they can enter
an unabbreviated English word and retrieve a standard English
abbreviation for that word or be told that a standard abbreviation
doesn't exist. This would, in my wildest dreams, avoid one app
that uses "svc" for "service" while another uses "serv" or "ser"
and (my alltime fave) "mngr" for "manager". %-\
Thanks to everyone who supplied ideas or URLs to dictionaries!
Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- kinzan -dot- com
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