Acronym Madness!

[Donn]

I was reading a thread about construction lumber earlier this morning, and came upon a mention of "SPF ." I couldn't remember what it stood for, so I tossed it into Google.

In the first 417 hits, I found these:

Sender Policy Framework
Sun Protection Factor
Singapore Police Force
Summer Play Festival
Survey of Professional Forecasters
Scottish Police Federation
Savills Private Finance
Spring Processor Forum
Spastic Paraplegia Foundation
Single Point of Failure
Saskawa Peace Foundation
Shoreline Preservation Fund
South Pacific Forum
Stephen P. Foglia
Scotch Plains - Fanwood
Small Projects Facility
Slashpackage - Foreign
Space Power Facility
Specific Pathogen Free
Soybean Protein Fiber
Standard Pacific Corp (Ticker symbol, not acronym)
Sender Permitted From
Small Pacific Fish
Specimen Preparation Facility
SIG Project Fund
Statens Pædagogiske Forsøgscenter
Settings Persistence Framework
Sociedade Portuguesa de Fisica
Spray Polyurethane Foam
Societe Prehistorique Francaise
Sydney Peace Foundation
StileProject.com Forums
Stuff Portrait Friday
Shortest Path First
Stateful Packet Filter
System Programming Facility
Strategic Prevention Framework
SitePoint Forums
Struts Portlet Framework
Structural Pattern Finder


Finally, I searched within results for "lumber" and Spruce-Pine-Fir was the first hit.

[emichaels]

And do you know what "GOOGLE" stands for ?

[JimD]

I had a cousin who suffered from AM. Not a nice way to go.

[Paul Pless]

sexually pretty free

[Donn]

And do you know what "GOOGLE" stands for ?

It's a spelling error for "googol," Ten to the hundredth power.

[Bruce Hooke]

Unusual acronyms can be a problem, but SPF is far from unusual in the construction industry and the lumber trade. It also should have been evident that we were talking about a lumber grade, and a Google search on "SPF lumber" provides a very quick explanation of the acronym. Anyone with the knowledge to add much to that discussion would likely know what SPF stands for, and anyone else was free to simply post a quick question asking for an explanation of the "SPF." I don't hear many complaints around here about people using acronyms like LWL or LOA.

[Popeye]

so what does a sprucepinefir look like?

[Donn]

Well, Bruce, I'm not in the construction industry or lumber trade. I saw the initials, didn't remember what they stood for, and did my version of a quick Google on them. For me, that means highlighting the word, right-clicking on it and selecting Web Search Pro, a Firefox extension. I suppose I could have dropped straight to the bottom of the first page of hits, and searched within results at that point, but I was fascinated by all the results of the raw search.

Sorry if it came off as a "complaint."

[Donn]

so what does a sprucepinefir look like?

Like ASCOB.

[Paul Girouard]

so what does a sprucepinefir look like?



Around here, mostly spruce:eek: There might be one Fir 2x in the pile but it'll be hard to find:eek:

And yes I realize your post was a joke , mine is satire as there is some "truth" in it's content.

BTW Donn , I did not read your post as a "complaint", seemed like just a rumination to me.

[Popeye]

i have yet to see pine or fir in the pile , SPF is invariably SSS (spruce , spruce and spruce)

[BrianY]

Is SPF the same thing as "Whitewood"? I've been in all sorts of forests all over the place but I've never come across a "Whitewood" tree. Must be something that Lowe's grows on their own private tree plantations.

[Bruce Hooke]

Sorry...I read it is a complaint about the use of acronyms. I understand now that you were simply interested in how many things SPF can stand for, which is a totally different matter! I also enjoy words simply for their own sake, and this seems quite similar.

By the way, have you come across the book Home Ground? It is a beautifully written book of definitions of the many terms used to describing the land and water, from fil du courant to yardang. Home Ground was one of my Christmas presents.

[Ron Williamson]

Around here the pine is jack/lodgepole and the fir is balsam.
R