Re: I have an opinion!

On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, David Peterson wrote:

>     I must admit, I really, really, really, really, really, really HATE the
> shortening of words and phrases, e.g.: conlang, auxlang, AFAIK, etc.  It
> drives me crazy.  If you'll notice, I've never used any such shortenings in
> any of my e-mails.  But it's not just confined to this list.  I hate it when
> people say cogsci when the mean cognitive science; see ess when they mean
> computer science; polisci when they mean political science; bio when they
> mean biology; addy when they mean address; peep when they mean people, etc.,
> etc.  It drives me nuts.  I like the words as they are.  They're happy words.
>  They don't like to be chopped in half or diced up or condensed.  Anyway,
> that is the end of the segment: I HAVE AN OPINION!
<rueful look>  Whereas I like such breath-saving and typing-saving
shortenings.  How about you do constructed languages and I do
conlanging?  :-)

<tongue in cheek>
At Cornell, if people had to answer "mechanical and aerospace
engineering" instead of "mechE" [mEki] or "cognitive science" instead of
"cogni sci" [kagni saI] or, God help *me,* "mathematics" instead of
"math," we would be considerably more out of breath, exacerbated by the
fact that we have Escherian hills to climb just to get to classes.
</tongue in cheek>

I do find a few usages that annoy me, but in general I find it
fascinating how people chop words up, which ones, why.

YHL, college student and therefore probably subject to such degeneration.