If you’re a language snob like me, you pay attention to things other people don’t notice — or disregard if they do notice. I’ll cite a couple instances in a moment. But first, a note on linguistic mechanics — more specifically, a mechanical abbreviation with the literal, functional purpose of condensing terminology:
initialism (noun): a set of initials representing a name, organization, or the like, with each letter pronounced separately
In an initialism, the initial letters are pronounced individually — FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), CEO (chief executive officer), HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), HTML (HyperText Markup Language). In those examples, it’s clear the initialisms are condensations of the full, formal terms.
NOTE: Initialisms are not acronyms. Acronyms are abbreviations that can be pronounced as words — NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), COVID (coronavirus disease), radar (radio detection and ranging), SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), FOMO (Fear of Mark O’Brien).
So What?
As a devotee of police dramas and true-crime programs, I’ve noticed everyone who speaks during any of those shows refers to GSWs (gunshot wounds). In all likelihood, that initialization has been around forever. And by noticing it now, I’m probably manifesting the Baader–Meinhof Phenomenon, which is sometimes referred to as the frequency illusion or the frequency bias. People commonly experience this phenomenon when they notice a particular make and model of car on the road for the first time and thereafter seem to see that same make and model everywhere.
In this case, though, it’s not the frequency I notice. Rather, it’s the seeming illogic of it. If we’re talking about something like CID (Criminal Investigation Department), I’m with you all the way:
Cop: I need CID on the scene right away.
Dispatcher: Roger that. CID en route.
But consider this scenario:
Cop: I have a GSW. Get an ambulance here ASAP.
Dispatcher: If it’s that urgent, why didn’t you say gunshot wound? It’s three fewer syllables.
And here’s another scenario, this one from more than 50 years ago when I worked as a hospital orderly:
Nurse: Transport this patient to the OR [operating room]. He’s having surgery for CA [Cancer].
Me: Why don’t you just say cancer? It’s the same number of syllables as CA, and the dude already knows why he’s having surgery.
Resolutions
I don’t know why I notice these things. I don’t know why they mean anything to me or compel me to write about them. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get over myself. But I don’t see that working out.
I’ll just have to be careful to pick TRW (the right words).
Originally Published on https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/category/lifecolumns/notes-to-self/
