Disambiguation for morons in tech.
After another day of reading through frustratingly bad e-mails, I have come up with a list of important lessons for anybody working in technology.
1) Use apostrophes properly. There are no IP's, ACL's, DVD's, server's, PC's, CD's, computer's. The 80's are not a decade. Learn to use apostrophe's(sic) properly, or don't use them at all.
2) SPAM is a canned meat product by Hormel, not unsolicited e-mail. That's spelled "spam" (note: all lower case).
3) While we're on the topic of upper-case versus lower-case, a fob (all lowercase) is an item, such as a SecurID that hangs off of your keychain. A FOB (all capital) is what you see playing Initial-D for hours on end.
4) Finally, if you're going to state something as fact, then, for fuck's sake, back up your facts with something. I hate hearing somebody say, "oh, well so-and-so is because so-and-so," knowing full well they are talking out of their ass. Back up your statements, or just admit that you don't know and keep your mouth shut. Case in point.
Following those steps will make those anal retentive people like me much happier, and make you look like less of a moron.
Categories
Geeky Stuff4 Comments
Leave a comment
Support this site!
* DJMAX Portable [Prestige Box Set Collector's Edition]
* Beatmania IIDX
* Pop'n Music
* Dance Dance Revolution
* Katamari Damacy
4) There is no company named MAC, nor is it an acronym. The company is Apple. The computer is the Macintosh, or Mac for short.
4c) While Apple makes the Mac computer, there is an acronym "MAC", short for "Media Access Control". The "MAC address" uniquely identifies a node on an IEEE 802 network.
5) Don't use redundant acronym phrases. say "ATM" not "ATM machine" ATM is an acronym for automated teller machine. Thus, ATM machine really means automated teller machine machine. (From http://www.nanday.com/rap/)
Oh my God, how could I have forgotten those two gems.
4d) It's iPod, not IPOD. It's iBook, not IBOOK, and so on. Little i, people.
5a) On the topic of the "ATM machine," "NIC card" is another redundant acronym.
In the UK, my generation was taught to use an -'s to pluralise anything that is not a word, such as "DVD". So this post got me thinking and I found the following:
"Only one significant task has been lifted from the apostrophe's workload in recent years: it no longer has to appear in the plurals of abbreviations (MPs) or plural dates (1980s). Until quite recently, it was customary to write MP's and 1980's - and in fact this convention still applies in America." (from the well-respected Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss)
I suppose DVD should really be D.V.D. ;-)