From time to time, Musk will send out an e-mail to the entire company to enforce a new policy or let them know about something that's bothering him. One of the more famous e-mails arrived in May 2010 with the subject line: Acronyms Seriously Suck:
There is a creeping tendency to use made up acronyms at SpaceX. Excessive use of made up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication and keeping communication good as we grow is incredibly important. Individually, a few acronyms here and there may not seem so bad, but if a thousand people are making these up, over time the result will be a huge glossary that we have to issue to new employees. No one can actually remember all these acronyms and people don't want to seem dumb in a meeting, so they just sit there in ignorance. This is particularly tough on new employees.
That needs to stop immediately or I will take drastic action - I have given enough warning over the years. Unless an acronym is approved by me, it should not enter the SpaceX glossary. If there is an existing acronym that cannot reasonably be justified, it should be eliminated, as I have requested in the past.
For example, there should be not "HTS" [horizontal test stand] or "VTS" [vertical test stand] designations for test stands. Those are particularly dumb, as they contain unnecessary words. A "stand" at our test site is obviously a test stand. VTS-3 is four syllables compared with "Tripod", which is two, so the bloody acronym version actually takes longer to say than the name!
The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication. An acronym that most engineers outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to use. It is also ok to make up a few acronyms/contractions every now and again, assuming I have approved them, e.g. MVac and M9 instead of Merlin 1C-Vacuum or Merlin 1C-Sea Level, but those need to be kept to a minimum.
Right. I need to say I support absolutely what Elon is saying. But I need to break it down, and I'm afraid I need to take Mr. Musk to school.
First of all, Elon Musk says "acronyms" but he really means either "initialisms," such as his "HTS" example, i.e. an abbreviation created out of the initial letters of the words in a phrase, or possibly "abbreviations," which is an umbrella term for both initialisms and acronyms. An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word. You know. Like NASA. This is kind of ironic coming from the SpaceX guy. He is wrong and all of you who call something like "HTML," "GPS," or whatever the hell "LTGM" means to you an acronym are also wrong. You shouldn't be able to graduate from high school without knowing this.
Now that I've made an earnest attempt to show my hand as an unrepentant grammar dictator, I'm gonna talk about his meaning rather than his (and everyone else's) handling of the words.
His point is valid and it's absolutely true that "Excessive use of made up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication." And even though the elephant in the room here is that literally all acronyms (and abbreviations, grrrrr) are made up, it's just simply a fact. Abbreviations burden the reader/listener with the chore of deciphering the meaning of words that could simply have been spelled out or fully verbalized. Let me repeat that. You are trying to communicate with someone else, and by the use of such obfuscatory terms, you're actually making it harder for the person to whom you're trying to get through to understand you.
To those of you defending the use of such abbreviations (you said "acronyms" in error, but I forgive you), I get your value of them. Sure. It's faster. But it's only faster for those who have already conquered the learning curve. What if you're introducing something new to an outsider and throw a barrage of ADTMYLCHORICYAs* at them? If you suspect they will either have their eyes glaze over in a complete lack of comprehension, or simply stay silent out of embarrassment, you're right.
Perhaps you like to use these terms as some kind of inside jargon. A code to confer a kind of secret insider knowledge that gives people a way to talk about an idea in shorthand. They increase the perceived importance of ideas, and at the same time they also help keep other ideas from entering the inner circle. If you're gonna be like that, fine, but good luck when you have to talk to anyone outside this inner circle. I think anyone in the military will back me up on this.
Or maybe you just like to use them for mischief. That's fine. But when your use of these FUBAR ADTMYLCHORICYAs* result in a SNAFU, you will have only yourself to blame.
Here's a real world example. I quoted a now classic hip-hop reference to a person who was under the age of 35 last week in the form of the Naughty By Nature song's eponymous chorus, "You down with OPP?" And all I got back was an utterly blank stare. Alas, she did NOT know me. That's what you're doing when you use silly ADTMYLCHORICYAs*.
So, really, everybody. Cut it out already. Use your words.
*Abbreviations Designed To Make You Look Cool However Only Result In Confusing Your Audience