People use a lot of
abbreviations in their written or spoken language. They automatically assume the other person
(reading or listening) knows what he/she is talking about. It is not their fault because most of the
time the other person would know what he is reading/listening.
My latest post was titled
“PMOIndia”. All my Indian readers knew
what PMO meant. I never mentioned what
PMO stands for. My Non-Indian readers
called me and asked what the hell I was talking about. One friend thought that I was going to write
about our Project
Management Office in India
I want to tell an interesting
experience I had few years ago.
My wife’s brother lives in
Chennai. We were on a vacation to
Chennai. We wanted to go to
Tirupathi. Since there is always a long
line to have a darshan, my brother in law told me he knows the AC and he can
arrange for a speedy darshan. My wife
and I were so happy.
It was a hottest summer in
Chennai. (What can we do? Summer time is the only time kids can take a
vacation.) So we go by car from Chennai
to Tirupathi. We went up the hill to
Tirumalai where Lord Venkatachalapathy lives.
My brother in law stopped the car in front of an office building.
He asked me to come with
him to meet with the AC. I assumed AC
means Assistant Commissioner. I was
wearing a short. I thought it is not
good manners to go in front of the Assistant Commissioner in a short and t-shirt. Therefore, I opened the carry on and took out
my pant and wore that. I was decent
looking in a dress pant and t-shirt.
We go inside and my brother
in law talked to a guy who was working in a big hall with another 50 or so
people. All he had was a chair and a
desk. He introduced me to him and I
shook hands. I was thoroughly
disappointed.
When we came out, I asked
my brother in law who the hell he was. I thought we were going to meet the
Assistant Commissioner. My brother in
law was apologetic and told me that he should have mentioned to me earlier that
AC means Accounts Clerk.
Do you have any such
experience?
More interesting stuff on our way back to Chennai. Stay tuned.
when i joined my current organisation ,we used to get mails from seniors with some work related info, below which was written FYI and NA. FYI of course meant for your information but i always knew NA would mean,not applicable,and hence deleted those mails. Till one day my boss asked why haven't i replied on one such mail and i told him cuz it said NA to me...he corrected me NECESSARY ACTION :P
ReplyDeleteI am laughing even now! Accounts Clerk!
ReplyDeleteI remember one...at home we abbreviate a lot of words. My brother in law is an expert at that. He always has 've mo sa' means verum more saadam...a long list is there in our homes!
I had an article to a magazine.Just being normal,I used quite a few Abbreviations.As the date for publishing was nearing I called up the editor.Guess what,he didn't know the expanded form of what I used.I had to send an amendment same night
ReplyDeleteHehe, abbreviations lead to confusion :P. Waiting to read your return journey story SG.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I went to a fruit shop and asked if they had 'karpooram'. They told me that it will be available only in a bunk shop. Then I pointed my finger towards a fruit and asked what it was. They said - 'karpoora vazhai?' :)
ReplyDeleteIn India, even the Accounts Clerk (esp. in Govt. offices) have a lot of "influence"!!
Destination Infinity
Haha.. when you said AC, the first thing that came to even my mind was Assistant commissioner. Never imagined it would be Accounts clerk. Eager to read about the return journey from Chennai SG.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed a great pattern in myself: when I use an abbreviation and others don't understand, I get annoyed. When others use an abbreviation and I don't understand, I get annoyed.
ReplyDeleteHope I am not the only one.
Thanks for your comments Sulagna. I liked your anecdotes. I want to add one more. In Government of India, many babus when they send a “draft” to their boss, they put on top of it “DFA Draft for Approval”. My point is either you just say “DFA” or say “Draft for Approval”. Please don’t combine both of them “DFA Draft for Approval”.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Sandhya. I can understand. In our home too, we add the "fy" for everything. Kalakkufy. Pirattufy. Oothufy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Mr. Chowla. I hope you met the deadline.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Reshma. I hope I did not raise your expectation of my next post with my build up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Rajesh. You are correct. That AC was very helpful. (It was good I changed my shorts to dress pant.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Ash. I hope I did not raise your expectation of my next post with my build up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Karunesh. You are not alone. I am also on your side.
ReplyDeleteHa haa haa :D Now I realised, it is better to ask for an expansion of the abbreviation the other person is talking about :D :D
ReplyDeleteTC! Keep smiling :)
Thanks for your comments Sindhu. Yes, it is better to ask the person what the "abbreviation" he just said means.
ReplyDeletehahahaaha..I too thought that AC meant Assistant Commissioner..
ReplyDeleteI too remember one incident..I had just joined an office after completing my graduation..one day I was sitting in a cubicle of one of my senior colleague and i asked him, "Das da I have a confusion..can you tell me why sometimes its written A/P on vehicles..I know about Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh but what is this AF" hearing it the whole office had a laugh and I was embarrassed..later Mr. Das clarified that A/F means Applied For..which never came to my mind even for once..
Thanks for your comments Ranita. I would have thought AF means Air Force.
ReplyDeleteAbbreviations are very culture and region specific. A/C in a bank means account.You have to be part of the sector, region etc to be able to grasp it!!! DM is the abbreviation for District Magistrate in the northern states for what we refer to as "District collector" ( which again would confuse a non Indian). Whenever I used to go to the northern states wanting to meet the collector they used to look puzzled. When I said DM realization would dawn !! SM in railway lingo stands for Station master and BM in Bank lingo stands for Branch Manager!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Meera. I always thought District Magistrate is some judge (Magistrate). Now thanks for the clarification.
ReplyDeleteWhen Noida District Magistrate, Durga Naipal, was suspended, I was thinking what the hell she was doing near mosque instead of sitting in a court room.
I was even considering 'Air Conditioner' as a possibility ;) :) Yes, we should always make it easy for our readers by avoiding abbreviations...
ReplyDeleteSome abbreviations can be absolutely deceiving like this one - "My dad goes to the US every Sunday" "He buys vegetables from the US"
US - Uzhavar Sandhai (Farmer's Market in Tamil) :D
;)
Thanks for your comments Rohini. And, welcome to my blog. Your dad goes to US to buy vegetables. Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific? HaHaHa. I got it.
ReplyDeleteRohini, please visit here as often as possible. Thanks.
once I was so excited about dj nyt that would be held in our college that I couldnt stop blabbering about it. once i was done, my dad looked at me for further explanation n wen i didn't, he was frustrated and asked what the hell is this dj! (dj nights are rare at our place)
ReplyDelete