Hi Cacian! I don't think it's a case of struggling, it's just not knowing what they mean at first. I remember not having a clue what WIP stood for. It was something that kept appearing on this website and it bugged me for a while until the answer just came to me. Work In Progress. Abbreviations can be handy and most of the time you can work out their meaning, but if you're ever unsure of what they mean just ask
I tell what they look anyhting but common to me. everytime I am about to read a post or lookup somehting they appear and I get put off because there is one born every minute. how do you keep up? another chat music forum I am in, they have things like symbols and punctuations too and I haven't the slight idea what they mean. things like ¬ or ^^^^^ hi there Adventurer!! now there is a WIP I did not know about it reminded me of ZIP for some reasons. I was thinking that if we are to adopt these terms then there has got to be for them where they couldbe checked because people sometimes do not have time to come back and answer and so the reader is let cluless. might suggest it as an addition to the site for those of us who cannot keep up :redface:
They're common terms objectively. Again, if you don't understand something, ask about it. See below. They're common enough to not warrant a glossary of terms for them. Even better, google it. By googling "WIP" just now, I learned from the very first link that it's a "Work-In-Progress". Rather than choking up this forum with questions that google can answer for you, try and find the answers for yourself.
The thing is, they aren't forum common abbreviations and acronyms, but industry common. Learning them will help you in your writing career, so it's definitely worth you looking them up and discovering their meaning.
Staring a personal glossary of writing terms and abbreviations might be a good idea I could sure use one.
However it would be very much useless since you can Google every single one of these terms in order to learn their meaning. Such a thread would be entirely redundant.
google gives you thousands of entries. which one is the right one is a question. here is one I found earlier
I agree as it does or must put people off when they start reading something and these terms come up. some people do not very good terms memories like me. I remember a word but I cannot remember terms or abbreviations.
Writing their meaning down in a notebook or on your computer for future reference doesn't sound redundant to me. I'd rather use Google once than rely on it if I forget what an abbreviation might mean. My memory isn’t that good.
This is where you put in your own common sense. Please note that there's a whole section devoted to the disambiguation of "Point Of View", not to mention that in the first four entries on Google, you get: "Point of view pornograpy", "Point of view shot", and the urban dictionary entry for "pov" which states that it's an abbreviation for point of view. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to use your own intelligence to discern the meaning yourself. Why would we be referring to the Parliament of Victoria or Power of veto? Mine's not spectacular either, but you and I both seem to be able to use words. If you want to write it down on a sticky note and stick it to your computer, go for it. I'm saying that it would be redundant to start an entire glossary thread when you've got something as quick as Google that will give you the answer in minutes.
Well, alright, but you have to use a bit of common sense with it. Look at the context. Which definition would fit? I'd suggest you're unlikely to find members on this site abbreviating Parliament of Victoria in common parlance.
The amount of abbreviations I've come across and learnt on this website stuns me and yeah I do agree that starting a glossary thread would be pointless with Google only one click away, although I can see its worth.
Your post contains two points, and they seem to contradict each other. Do you see why it's pointless, or do you see its worth?
Sorry. I see why it's pointless, but I like the concept of having a thread like that if Google wasn't around. :redface:
Ah. Gotcha. I see what you mean now and I agree. Unfortunately, Google does exist (words I never thought I'd say, considering how much of a Google fanboy I am, hehe).
I know exactly how you feel. the annoying problem with google is that it does not differentiate between a context and another and therefore gives a whole loads of lists and you have to swim your way around it. I am with you on this one. I will start a section on my profile and see if you could use it to cross refer with terms. what do you say?
Again, common sense is the prevailing force here. You have to look at the lists and think to yourself, "What makes the most sense?" You'd be surprised how quickly the human brain can answer that question. EDIT: If you really can't stand using your brain for simple functions, then go to Google and type in: "define:wip" or "defineov", and it'll do the simple work for you.
all it takes is common sense and 'creative' googling... instead of putting just 'pov' in the search slot, put 'pov writing' and there'll be no confusion, since only the writing-relevant pov definition will show up! you can also google for 'writing terms glossary' and add whichever one you like best to your 'favorites' menu... that will save you a lot of thread-posting time and the members a lot of post-answering time... anyone who's really serious about becoming a writer will take the time to learn the industry-relevant 'lingo' and not waste their precious writing time asking others to define the basics for them, when it's so easy and so much quicker to find out on their own...
Why am I suddenly tempted to begin singing (really loudly) Five Man Electrical Band's Signs? Easily one of the coolest songs ever.
If you want to be a welder, you have to be able to distinguish between MIG and TIG welding. If you want to be a writer, you have to be able to distinguish between MS and MC. Every industry has its own lingo, so you'll have to bone up on unfamiliar words until they become familiar. Like learning a new language. As a Dutchman, I don't have any trouble learning a new language, but I can imagine it can be daunting to some people. Still, POV, MS, and MC have been around longer than LOL or ROFL, which everybody seems to understand, so I agree with cruciFICTION that a glossary thread seems somewhat redundant.
I agree with what you are saying but as a writer is it really a good idea to start halfing words in terms that are still and will be vague to new users. I mean I can imagine an older person trying to read in a writer forum only to stumble on abrreviations or caps that means nothing to them. someome somewhere here said they write for clarity and those terms are anything but clear because there is one term born every second.
Let me get this right: you complain about lack of clarity in a sentence that makes no sense whatsoever? Maybe you should try re-reading your post before you complain about writers substituting MS for manuscript for brevity's sake.
as i said, if someone wants to be a writer [no matter how old or young they may be], s/he will take the time to learn what they need to know to do that... and that would include industry-standard terms and abbreviations, just as anyone wanting to have a career in any other field would do... as your exceedingly poor grammar in all of your mostly-incomprehesible posts demonstrates, cacian, you have a lot more to learn yet than a few simple-to-learn abbreviations... if you need even those simplest of the basics spoonfed to you, then you probably don't have what it takes to be a writer in any case, sorry to say...
