Musing about acronyms
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Musing about acronyms H
uman beings love acronyms. They have been in use for many centuries, and they exist in many languages. They can significantly shorten long titles and can facilitate communications through those abbreviations. For example, hardly anyone in common conversation says, “light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation,” and yet almost everyone knows the meaning of and uses the acronym LASER. In fact, it’s so commonplace that the most use of the word is lowercase “laser” rather than LASER. People also seem to love to look for names for places and processes so that the associated acronyms have a common name, which may or may not be related to the place or process.
Society or the Advanced Photon Source (because I’m a user), but in materials research APS can stand for appearance potential spectroscopy. APS is also the acronym for the Association for Psychological Science, the American Physiological Society, the American Philatelic Society, the American Phytopathological Society, the American Pain Society, the American Philosophical Society, the American Peptide Society, the American Psychosomatic Society, Acta Pharmicologica Sinica, and a host of others such as Arizona Public Services, Albuquerque Public Schools, etc., etc., etc. In fairness, I note that others use the MRS acronym including the Market Research Society and the Metastasis
You are reading this because you are a member of the Materials Research Society (MRS) or have an interest in materials research. I have a number of items that have the MRS logo on them. I cannot tell you the number of times that people unfamiliar with MRS have asked whether or not this (MRS) is an organization for married women (i.e., the honorific Mrs. in English). When I explain, it clears up their confusion, but I can’t help but wonder how many people have strange thoughts about what I’m involved in every time I wear my shirt with the MRS logo. Sometimes the use of acronyms can complicate understanding even among technophiles. For example, when I think of APS, I think of the American Physical MRS BULLETIN
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VOLUME 39 • JANUARY 2014
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www.mrs.org/bulletin
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FEATURES POSTERMINARIES
CARSS EELLS FIB FREET HAS LA ASERR LIBBS MRSS PACCT PEEELS REM SA AD SA ANS TACT T UPPS
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Research Society, as well as the Music Radio Service and others. The MRS acronym is also associated with at least one type of spectroscopy (see below). I value integri
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