<VV> 'Breviations

Charley Biddle 75771.44@compuserve.com
Fri, 30 Jan 2004 14:24:12 -0600


On Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 11:59:27 -0500, Robert Marlow wrote, in part:
As the editor of my local club's newsletter, I'm fairly aggressive about
editing out "Vair" and replacing it with "Corvair." I'll admit, it's a
personal quirk. There are other chapters that use "Vair" in the club name,
and still more that use "Vair" in the newsletter name. It's a cute pun at
times, such as Vair Force and Vair Mail, but it still creeps me out.
Anyone else bothered by this?

As editor of the Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiasts newsletter, the Airhorn, 
the 'breviation of "Vair" for "Corvair" does not bother me.  I've been 
around them so long that I've gotten used to it.  I can even tolerate 
"Vette" (the 'breviation and with less enthusiasm, the car).  The 
'breviations that do drive me up the wall are those for the names of 
months, days of the week and some street names.  Except in our Activities 
Calendar where space is short, I spell out most 'breviations.  Some of our 
long-term members have developed a kind of slang, where acronyms (first 
letter of each word in a phrase) are used for cars, car parts, repair 
procedures, and other people.  These I allow where context permits.  I may 
spell them out in editorial square brackets at first use in an article, 
where appropriate (and the where the translation is printable in a family 
newsletter).

--- Charley Biddle, CCE