Is it OK to use the SUNY abbreviation when referring to State University of New York schools outside of the tri-state area/east coast? [more inside]
posted by amethysts on Oct 6, 2009 - 30 answers

In the distant past the megabyte and gigabyte were honorable quantities of storage and we referred to them by their full names; now they are too familiar, and we call them "meg" and "gig." Has a common spoken abbreviation already emerged for the terabyte? Or must we wait until TBs are readily available in larger multiples before the linguistic hivemind of digital humanity collectively determines the spoken shorthand? Sysadmins and data center pros--you know best. What do you call 10,000,000,000,000 bytes?
posted by lucius on May 17, 2009 - 24 answers

When (and why) did the postal abbreviation for Québec change from PQ to QC? Was PQ too closely associated with the Parti Québécois? [more inside]
posted by Chrysostom on Jan 10, 2008 - 13 answers

Asking for my son: How and why did web abbreviation and web slang evolve the way it did? Was it just a matter of common acceptance, or was something bigger at work? [more inside]
posted by amyms on Nov 22, 2007 - 11 answers

Australia has its own version of Rice Krispie Squares - Kellogg's LCMs®. What does LCM stand for?
posted by obiwanwasabi on Jul 23, 2006 - 36 answers

Why is the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team often abbreviated as "CBJ"? [more inside]
posted by brad! on Dec 9, 2005 - 10 answers

How does one correctly pluralise an acronym or an abbreviation? How does one specify an acronym's ownership? How should one go about specifying the ownership of a collection of acronyms? [more inside]
posted by PuGZ on Nov 20, 2005 - 39 answers

Is there anywhere a FAQ or tutorial to help newer people such as me with understanding short-hand terms such as "FARK", or what's the difference between "funny" and "teh funny"? [more inside]
posted by longsleeves on Oct 26, 2005 - 16 answers

I often use et al when making notes to list people for meetings. What would or could or should one use as a shorthand when listing a series of places? E.g. "I am traveling to Guadeloupe et ___ (other surrounding islands) or "Tyson's Corner et ____ (other surrounding suburbs).
posted by Dick Paris on Sep 24, 2004 - 8 answers

In dealing with academia, I often meet people with a bewildering array of letters after their name. Does anyone know of a glossary extant of what these all mean? At the moment I'm trying to puzzle out what FBA means - any clues?
posted by Mossy on Sep 8, 2004 - 4 answers