A glossary of commonly used tomato culture abbreviations

[barkeater]

The proper way to use any acronym such as "BW" is to use it only after it was first spelled out: Brandywine. Then it can be subsequently referred to as BW as most all readers will be able to figure out what it means, newbie or not. To begin an initial post full of abbreviations or acronyms in any forum is just rude (ask Miss Manners).;-)

[Mischka]

Originally Posted by barkeater

The proper way to use any acronym such as "BW" is to use it only after it was first spelled out: Brandywine. Then it can be subsequently referred to as BW as most all readers will be able to figure out what it means, newbie or not. To begin an initial post full of abbreviations or acronyms in any forum is just rude (ask Miss Manners).;-)

Excellent rule of thumb, barkeater.

I would encourage all of our members to ask what an abbreviation means, if you see it in a post and don't know what it represents.

There's no shame in asking for clarification, whatsoever.

[Alpinejs]

Carolyn et.al.....I have now been around these boards long enough to be
familiar with many abbreviations. I just read another thread encouraging
lurkers to get involved in posting. Perhaps, all the abbreviations are part of
what intimidates them? To me, it is better in a post to spell out, say,
Brandywine and then within the same post, go to "BW". A glossary is fine, but
the time it would take to go look through a glossary for a newbie/lurker is a lot
longer than what it would take the author of a post to spell it out. JMHO and
not LMAO and it ain't Big Sungold, it is just FWIW to the BSA and
RCAF.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Alpinejs

Carolyn et.al.....I have now been around these boards long enough to be
familiar with many abbreviations. I just read another thread encouraging
lurkers to get involved in posting. Perhaps, all the abbreviations are part of
what intimidates them? To me, it is better in a post to spell out, say,
Brandywine and then within the same post, go to "BW". A glossary is fine, but
the time it would take to go look through a glossary for a newbie/lurker is a lot
longer than what it would take the author of a post to spell it out. JMHO and
not LMAO and it ain't Big Sungold, it is just FWIW to the BSA and
RCAF.

Yes, it would take time to go through the abbreviations in this thread, which is why I posted the following above:

(Alpine, everyone starts out as a newbie at some point and thre are abbreviations that one learns as one learns more and more about tomato varieties. If you don't understand some of the abbreviations then just ask the person posting what one stands for if you don't see it in the posts above.)

And I'll amend that to say just ask the person directly rather than going through the abbreviations, but I think it's really good that the thread also covered abbreviations that don't refer to tomato varieties so by new folks reading through at least, hopefully, some of the ones listed here would be familiar when seen in the context of a post.

I can't promise that I'll write out the full names of any tomato varieties I post about, I can try, but no promises; too old, too many message sites I've been at since 1989 and so my fingers sometimes do what they do without any participation from my brain telling them what should be donee done. But PL and RL and the like are used so much that I do think the more common abbreviations, many of them in this thread, that folks use shouldn't be a problem.

And I don't think that lurkers are intimidated at all by some folks using abbreviations for tomato varieties. Studies have been done that show that at almost all message sites only 10% of the registered members ever post. They prefer to lurk, and from time to time someone will start a thread trying to convince lurkers to join the comminity here and post. And most of the time that doesn't work b'c most lurkers like to just lurk.

With the exception of a few Forums here, which are for members only, anyone can lurk and read what they want to without registering, and that's fine too, except if you look at the thread in the 2 cents Forum in the Mailbox Full thread one needs to make a post or two before one can use the PM feature.

[frogwash]

AAAFNRAA - Anything Anytime Anywhere For No Reason At All
TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

[Mischka]

YMMV = your mileage may vary

[salix]

Alpine, I was OK up to the British Shorthair Association and the Royal Canadian Air Force...

I agree with those posters who indicate that it is good manners to write out the full name for any UNUSUAL acronym first, then go to the short form. (That is how we were taught to use contractions waaay back in the dark ages.)

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by salix

Alpine, I was OK up to the British Shorthair Association and the Royal Canadian Air Force...

I agree with those posters who indicate that it is good manners to write out the full name for any UNUSUAL acronym first, then go to the short form. (That is how we were taught to use contractions waaay back in the dark ages.)

I got the RCAF one but thought that BSA stood for Boy Scouts of America.

Yes, it is good manners, especially for any UNUSUAL acronyms as you put it, to give a full name first and then an abbreviation, especially if the variety is being referred to again in the same post.

I'm just saying that I can try, I can't speak for others, I have no idea who is even reading this thread, but I know me pretty well right now and I might just plain forget to do so.

After all, who was the person who was supposed to send one pack of red Prue seeds and one pack of a possible yellow version to each of two people this week and was informed that person A got two packs of the red, so I was hoping that person B got two packs of the yellow, and thank heavens that happened and now that's fixable.

With increasing age, and I'm quite a few years over Medicare entree age, often come moments of forgetfulness, which is why I personally can't promise anyone about anything.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Is also good to note that these acronyms vary on dirfferent businsses as BSA to me means Bank Secrecy Act but may mean something else to others.

Craig

[cloz]

To me BSA means Birmingham Small Arms as in BSA motorcycles, bicycles and firearms.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

I do know BSA from american pickers with that name too it is all relative to the discussion at hand I think

Craig

[MichelleInWASt]

Ah, the human memory has the lifespan of a soap bubble, but a double entendre on the Internet is forever...

Originally Posted by carolyn137

"... and I'm quite a few years over Medicare entree age..."

I trust that the sous chef at Medicare realizes that you MUST be served with a simple but elegant sauce of Opalka tomatoes <GD&R*>

(Enjoying your book, BTW - thank you!)

* Grin, Duck & Run

[salix]

...and that's why we need it spelled out in full the first time!

[Alpinejs]

For anther gardening board. SPPPPPPP.

The Society for the prevention of putting parsley on people's plates in public
places.

[MrTudball]

WTF- Why the face

Sorry just watched a modern family repeat last night.