Grammar Moses: A give-and-take on 'bring' and 'take'

You may know what a laser looks like and essentially what it does, but did you know that "laser" is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation?

Or that sonar stands for Sound Navigation and Ranging?

These are acronyms - words created from the first letter or letters of a string of words that describe something.

Laser and sonar and radar and scuba are acronyms so ingrained in our language that they're not even spelled out in ALL CAPS as OSHA and NASA are.

Many people think that FBI, NAACP, ATM, PDF and SUV also are acronyms. I hear them described as such all of the time.

But they're a different breed of abbreviation called initialisms.

With an initialism, the first letters of each word don't form a new word. Rather the letters are spoken individually.

But that's not why Joanna Kostich of Arlington Heights wrote to me.

"I do not like the popular use of acronyms," she wrote. "Once in a while, they are OK. But I find myself trying to figure out what the speaker is talking about."

Clarity is the most important thing in oral or written language. If you trip up your audience, you lose.

Consider the acronym SWALCO.

Odds are very good that even if you live in Lake County you don't know that SWALCO stands for Solid Waste Agency of Lake County. Same goes for BACOG, the Barrington Area Council of Governments.

That is why we generally limit their use in the Daily Herald, especially in the Internet age when all of the stories we pack into our various zoned editions can be found on dailyherald.com for all to see.

You might live in Sugar Grove and wonder what in the heck a BACOG is.

If you are talking to a work partner about cover sheets for your TPS reports, or you write for a trade journal or the company house organ, then you have an audience that understands your abbreviations.

The general rule is that if initialisms or acronyms are generally known - FBI, CIA, IRS, radar - they're OK for general use. If they're not, they're not.

Know your audience.

Bring and take

Martha Sanders of Naperville and Elliott McDaniel of Schaumburg are frustrated by the assumed interchangeability of "bring" and "take."

"I hear, 'What are you going to bring to the party at Sue's house?'" Martha wrote. "Shouldn't the question say, 'What are you going to take to the party at Sue's house?' Now if Sue is talking I believe she could say, "What are you going to bring to my party?'"

Martha is correct.

Elliott had much the same question but asked for a mnemonic device so he could remember.

I've always told people that you bring something toward you and you take something away from you.

So, you take your meds on vacation. But you ask your dog to bring the newspaper to you.

A complication arises when you're talking or writing about movement to or from someone other than yourself.

Whether you use "bring" or "take" depends on the point of view of the person about whom you're talking.

The final word

With school back in session, here is one word that used incorrectly could earn you a few titters.

Kids are shipped to school on buses.

Busses are kisses.

Busing is the act of carting people in a big vehicle.

Bussing is smooching, which, I'm told, sometimes occurs on buses.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is assistant vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can follow or friend Jim on social media at facebook.com/baumannjim.