Letters

This title is really a substitute for two other more precise words which will be revealed. In the English language, and sometimes reaching beyond our border, are groups of capital letters that may be pronounced as a specific word that identifies what is represented or another group of letters that may stand for a specific action. In the later group letters are named individually and offer no hints of meaning to the uninitiated. The groups that are a recognizable word are called acronyms. NASA is spoken with assurance that any information following will be about the space agency while to many people the word NATO brings to mind the organization that was created to instigate fairness of behavior between nations. If the capital letters are just named one at a time with no clues to meaning they are known as initialism. What you forget to write the first time may be added as a PS and your social calendar is kept in order with an RSVP. Of course, there are those sneaky letters that are used so often that they are presented in lower case and have meaning that never has to be discussed, such as scuba.

Consider the options. If you put your mind to it, you could write a whole paragraph that would be as sticky to translate as one composed with the most erudite words in the Oxford English Dictionary. We haven’t even mentioned the vastness of texting abbreviations, pure slang best known to another human generation. The only two I really know are LOL and BFF. Chaos is the result of a SNAFU. RADAR can get a driver in trouble. You use ZIP without ever thinking that it stands for for Zone Improvement Plan. The best in a variety of options is a GOAT. Employees have an IRA, emergency rooms operate on ASAP and DNR, and for you to be met at the end of an airline journey someone needs to know the ETA. All make up the universe’s alphabet soup!

We use these acronyms, initialisms, and common slang to save space in a written communication. Sometimes they terminate a conversation casually like a baby wiggling fingers and saying, “Bye-bye.” Yet if that moment is emotional, a hug is part of the process and three understandable words, ‘I love you!” After the gospels, the rest of the New Testament is letters to churches or groups that needed encouragement or correction. The recognizable words at the beginning are grace and peace along with the wish that there may be no ambiguity in the message, but that the writer may come to the recipient so what is being said may be clearly understood.

I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you.

3 John 1:14