Good points, Jim. It needs emphasis every so often. And if one buys plants on eBay from another country it can be very tricky, even if and even especially --if your foreign correspondent has a modicum of English. The issue of clarifying to a foreigner the reasons for the "changes" in USDA/Postal procedures, which from a VERY limited point of view may not be considered changes at all, but really are-- in terms of their effects For the last 6 hours, I've been wondering if I should try to respond to Bill Aley (WDA), and if so, how. I think that I need to think about it some more. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:32 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Sending seeds to the BX > > > Uli wrote: What on earth is going on in the US? I try to follow the > discussions > (more or less) but reading the e-mails so full of abbreviations I do not > know nor understand (what is a MOU for example)" > > > Don't feel bad, Uli, this native speaker of English, who read this thread > backwards (i.e. newest posts first then working backwards) was also > confused. > > Because this forum is read by an international following, we need to be > careful about using abbreviations which are not likely to be recognized > outside of certain fields of endeavor. > > It is standard practice in using such abbreviations to introduce the > abbreviation and define it before using it. For instance, one might write > "If the memo of understanding (hereafter MOU) had been signed by all > parties > involved..." or "The Plant Inspection Station (hereafter PIS) is > responsible..." > > One of us should have spoken up sooner. > > I'll bet those contributing to this rich vein of advice were so focused on > the ideas they were trying to convey that it never occurred to them that > it > might be confusing to some readers. > > My mom tells the story of meeting one of her brothers in law shortly after > she and my dad were married. This particular brother in law had spent his > life in the military. My mom didn't understand a thing he said because > everything he said was expressed in the sort of acronyms he was used to > using in the military. He himself probably didn't know exactly what some > of > those acronyms stood for; in the world he lived in that was just the way > everyone spoke. > > Jim McKenney > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/