U-of-I prof’s dictionary spells out abbreviations

An emeritus professor of linguistics at the University of Iowa has finished compiling a new type of dictionary — dedicated to abbreviations. Robert Wachal got curious about ads in his paper’s “personals” section because he couldn’t make out things beyond “S-W-F I-S-O S-W-M.” The result was a dictionary with 14-thousand entries, including terms related to health, fitness, titles, military, addresses and technology.It took Wachal nine months working nine hours a day, five and a half days a week, to complete the dictionary. It includes popular Internet abbreviations like, C-Y-L for “see you later” and B-T-W for “by the way.” Wachal says one medical abbreviation was included which was near and dear to his heart. It’s C-A-B-G, pronounced “cabbage” like the vegetable.That’s “coronary artery bypass graft,” which he had shortly after the dictionary was completed. Wachal says the seven-dollar hardcover dictionary of abbreviations will help people in virtually any field, since you never know when you need to decipher things like D-V-D, I-S-P, I-S-D-N, E-D or L-O-L.