[pbs] Sending seeds to the BX
Adam Fikso
adam14113 at ameritech.net
Wed Feb 25 17:55:08 EST 2009
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 at jimmckenney.com>
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs at 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
>
>
>
>
>
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