I'm new here and am thoroughly enjoying going through the old threads. Have already picked up a lot of good advice.

However, I'm having a problem, as I don't understand some of the abreviations. Sometimes I sit here and scratch my head. "What in the heck are they talking about?"

I'm wondering if someone could do a translation page, thread, or point us new folks to a spot that defines the most common abreviations. The info may already exist, but I just haven't found it yet.

Thanks in advance for any help
Lee

Search on "abbreviation" The late and loved OBG posted a great list.

From an old thread posted by JIM and OBG (I added the '=' items):

AF) (see also, PALS & MOLLE)
ABCDE= Airway/ Breathing/ Circulation/ Disability/ Exposure
ABD-pad= ABDominal pad
ACR = ACR Electronics - a manufacturer of PLBs
ALICE - All-Purpose Lightweight Carrying Equipment
ALS= Advanced Life Support
ATLS- Advanced Trauma Life Support
AM - Amplitude Modulation
AIRSAVE - (USAF) (see also, PALS & MOLLE)
AMK: Adventure Medical Kits
ASAP= As Soon As Possible
ASP: Aviation Survival Pak
ABG= Arterial Blood Gas
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AOT - As Opposed To
AED: Automatic External Defibrillator

BLS= Basic Life Support
BOB=Bug Out or Bail Out Bag
BOT= Bag of tricks
BOV= Bug Out Vehicle
BTW - By the Way
BK or BK's = Bloody Kid(s)! i.e. Anyone under 60.
BOHICA- Bend Over, Here It Comes Again

CB - Citizens Band
CHP - California highway patrol
COSPAS-SARSAT = "Cosmicheskaya Sistyema Poiska Avariynich Sudov"+"Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking" - system for PLB support
CPR - Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
CRKT - Columbia River Knife and Tool
CW - Continuous Wave (synonymous with radio Morse Code)
C.D. or C.D's. - Coffin Dodger(s). i.e. Anyone over 60.

"DW" means "Dear Wife"
"DH" means "Dear Husband" (or sometimes Damn Husband!)
"DD" is "Dear Daughter"
DIY - Do it Yourself

EDC- Every Day Carry
EAS - Emergency Alert System
EMP - Electro-Magnetic Pulse
EPIRB- Electronic positioning indicating radio beacon
EBR - Energy bar wrapper (??)
ELT - Emergency Locator Transmitter
EDC - Everyday carry
ETS - Equipped to survive
E&E- Escape and Evasion
EMS- Emergency Medical Support
EMT- Emergency Medical Technician

FCOL- For Crying Out Loud
FWIW - For What it’s worth.
FM - Frequency Modulation
FRS - Family Radio Service
FSK: Fire Starting Kit
FAK: First Aid Kit
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
FUBAR - Fouled Up Beyond All Repair (polite form)

GEO = Geostationaryg Satellite - associated with COSPAS-SARSAT system
GMDSS- Global Maritime Distress and Safety System
GMRS - General Mobile Radio Service
GPS - Global Positioning Satellite
GPSR = Global Positioning Satellite Receiver
GCS- Glasgow Coma Scale / Glasgow Coma Score

Ham - Amateur radio operator (not really an acronym)
HF - High Frequency
HTH - Hope this helps

IIRC - If I recall Correctly
IMHO - In my humble opinion (also; In my honest Opinion)
IME - In My Estimation
IOW - In Other Words
IANAL - I am not a lawyer
INCH = I'm Never Coming Home

KISS- Keep it Simple, Stupid (Keep It Super Simple)
KSS- Kitchen Sink Survivalists

LBTOJ - Little brown truck of joy ( UPS)
LED - Light Emitting Diode
LTS - Long Term Survival
LE - Law Enforcement
LEO - Law Enforcement Officer
LEO = Low Earth Orbit satellite - associated with COSPAS-SARSAT system
LUT = Local User Terminal - associated with COSPAS-SARSAT system

MHz = Megahertz - a measure of radio wave frequency
Mk1 = Doug Ritter's folding knives (fullsize & mini)
Mk3 = Doug Ritter's fixed blade knife
Mk4 = Doug Ritter's folding "gentleman's" knife
Mk5 = New Doug Ritter's tiny fixed blade knife - intended to be placed inside survival kit
MOLLE - Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (USMC) (also PALS)
MRE - Meals Ready to Eat (Military Rations)
MURS - Multi-Use Radio Service
MMT- Mobile Medical Team
MVA- Motor Vehicle Accident
MSRP- Manufactures Suggested Retail Price

NOAA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
NBC- Nuclear/ Biological/ Chemical

OBG = Old Bald Guy - a beloved former forum member
OTOH - On the Other Hand
ORS- Oral Rehydratation Salts

PSK- Personal Survival Kit
PALS - Pocket Attachment Ladder System (US Army) (also MOLLE)
POV - Privately Owned Vehicle
PSP - Pocket Survival Pak
PHTLS- Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support
PLB- Personal Locator Beacon
PM- Private Message
PPPPP - Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
PICNIC - Problem In Chair Not In Computer, also called PEBKAC- Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.

RCC = Rescue Coordination Center - associated with COSPAS-SARSAT
RSK - Ritter survival knife
RSKM2 – Ritter Survival Knife w/ M2 High Speed Steel
RTG’S - Radioisotope thermal electric generators

SAMPLE- Symptoms, Allergies, Medication, Patient history, Last meal, Event
SAK - Swiss Army Knife
SAR- Search And Rescue
SEP- Survival Equipment Pack (in a life-raft)
SIP- Shelter In Place
SWAT- Special Weapons And Tactics
SF- Special Forces
SAME - Specific Area Message Encoding (NOAA EAS feature that provide alert by county or region)
SCUBA - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
SAR - Search and rescue
SAS - Special air service
SOS- Save Our Souls
SRLB - Self Righting Life Boat
STS - Short Term Survival
STOP - Stop Think Observe Plan
SIFMS -Sugar I forgot my stuff (polite version)
SNAFU - Situation Normal All Fouled Up (polite form)

TANSTAAFL- There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
TDC = That Darn Cat
TEOTWAWKI- The End Of The World As We Know It

USCG = U.S. Coast Guard
UPSK- Urban Personal Survival Kit
UTM = Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system - alternative to latitude & longitude

WAAS = Wide Area Augmentation System - provides more accurate GPS coordinates
WRT - With Respect To….
WTF- What The F**k
WTSFTF- When The S**t Hits The Fan
WYSIWYG- What you see is what you get

YASKT- Yet Another Survival Kit Thread
YMMV- Your Mileage may vary

Big Thank you! I just dropped the list into a Works doc and printed it out to have it handy. Already spotted a few that now make sense of some of the things I've recently read, but didn't understand. EDC is a good example.

Thanks, again.
Lee

That is helpful.

Ditto on the thanks!

OMG I finally understand what TDC means. YMMV, but Thanks!

TDC? That's top-dead-center for people who tune their own engines.

I learned FUBAR meant Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition (Polite version, rather than Repair. It takes someone or something special to transmogrify what is merely fouled up beyond repair, to the point where it is no longer recognizable. It is a significant accomplishment. Entropy has its ongoing demands, some of us are much better than others at speeding things along.

That is a nice list!

I agree, nice list. However what is interesting is that SOS is not abreviation.

Quoted from article "What is the meaning of SOS?" (http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/060199tip6.htm):

As long as you are doing a list of TLA's, you must list TLA!

Thanks to all. this is helpful. Maybe a sticky for newbies and us forgetful oldtimers?

ETLA = Extended Three Letter Acronym - aka 4 or more letters

TFKG2VWASKC2IXEIRTO ---

That's Funny KG I'll remember that one.

Prior to "SOS" (...---...) being adopted, I believe the signal was "PDQ" (..-.-..--.-) which was much more complicated and took longer to transmit than the easy to remember, "SOS".

To make things MORE confusing...
ABD pads originally stood for Army Battle Dressing... not Abdominal (bit of history there)
ASP is also the brand name for collapsible batons (think of the police)
TEOTWAWKI as an acronym has been strongly frowned upon by DR (aka, Doug Ritter) and his moderators on this board.

Oh... and did OBG pass? I hadn't heard that. Is there a post about it somewhere that I missed?

OBG's status is still unknown. However, I fear that it has become a foregone conclusion as he seemed to already know.

None of the final PM's we were exchanging up to the day he was to reenter the hospital for tests are listed as "Unread". Every PM from that night on until the date of his original announcement remain "Unread".

I too miss OBG....

Sorry to disagree - it was CQD - CQ in Morse Code is "Calling" - CQD = Calling - Disaster