There’s a debate at work regarding acronyms. There’s lots of opinions out there in the world on acronyms. The pro-acronym camp looks something like this:
- They are helpful mnemonics that reduce cognitive load. You’d never have passed algebra class without PEMDAS, right?
- The increase reading and writing speed (fewer words to read, fewer keystrokes to press).
- Acronyms reduce word count, making text more concise. Less to read is better in the twitter age, right?
The anti-acronym camp looks something like this:
- They are confusing jargon that increase cognitive load. Stopping to remember what an acronym stands for and looking it up slows you down.
- They increase reading and writing speed only if the acronym is familiar to the reader and writer.
- They are shortcuts to get around word count limits.
So, to abbreviate or not to abbreviate?
