Buzz Words, Abbreviations and Explanations

Buzzwords and abbreviations...

I find now that I despise them in real life. Here's an example:

ERP...

What do you think of when you see ERP? Nothing? or like me (originally a trained electronics technician in the days of my youth, who's primary speciality was 2-way communications equipment) do you think of Effective Radiated Power? (Or Equivalent Radiated Power) Follow this Link if you want your mind truly boggled.

Or do you think of the term Enterprise Resource Planning?

Do we wind up using buzzwords and abbreviations which are obscure and need explanations when we write? We need to think about my thoughts above. If you have to explain a buzzword, just use the explanation (simplified, if need be). It's better to use the explanation (in my view) than have to do both.

We also need to think of our audience, do they, as a rule, understand our abbreviations and buzzwords? Or do they (like me when my boss started tossing around ERP - meaning Enterprise Resource Planning) have to look it up. I knew Effective Radiated Power didn't make sense in the context.