A community vocabulary that I don’t share
July 25, 2005In most any social or professional community is that there’s often a series of shorthand or specialized vocabulary words that all the members know but which outsiders might find mysterious. Like how people in the Web world talk about “HTML” which is hypertext markup language, the commands that format all Web pages including this one.
Turns out here in Louisville, at least among church-goers, there’s an abbreviation “VBS” that they all use. It seems almost every church in the area has signs up that say things like “VBS sign-ups now” or “VBS classes begin 7/15″. Stuff like that.
For the longest time I had no idea what this meant. But it was so prevalent I was kinda embarassed to ask. Because that prevalence means everyone assumes you’ll know what it means. I didn’t want to look like an idiot by asking.
Thankfully I finally drove past a church where the sign-maker decided for whatever reason to spell out the acronym. It’s “Vacation Bible School”.
Should have figured out it had something to do with Bible Study or Bible School, given that it was only churches with these signs out front. Don’t know that I would have ever guessed the “V” part stood for “Vacation”.
Well now at least I feel more like a member of the community, because I know one of its shorthand terms.
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