Acronyms you don’t need: ROF

As you may have noted, I sometimes find myself using acronyms that no one else seems to use [1]. The most typical one is PITA [2], as in Trying to find the bug in this problem is a real PITA. Some day I may explain IDGAFF, which is something I say to myself in response to some statements I receive [3].

Today’s acronym that only Sam uses [4] is ROF. It’s kind of like ROFL, but without the laughter [6]. It’s how I refer to musings like my recent commentary on The Big Sick, my attempt to track down information on what M Mark is doing these days, or, well, almost any musing with more than a few endnotes.

Can you figure out what it stands for?

That’s right, it’s Rambling Old Fellow. If you don’t like the term Fellow, you can feel free to substitute a more gender-neutral, less polite for mixed company term.

Is it time to rename SamR’s Assorted Musings and Rants to RAF or SamR’s Assorted Musing and Ramblings [7,8]? Nah.

Oh well, back to figuring out what Sedona stands for [9]. Then I can decide whether I need a separate section for ROF-style musings. Or maybe I should start exploring the other meanings of ROF [10,14].

[1] Or that almost no one else seems to use.

[2] Pain in the neck.

[3] Never mind. A quick Web search suggests that others use it, too. That likely means you can figure out what it means to some people. Oh well.

[4] Otherwise known as Acronym You Don’t Need [6].

[5] I need a better name and acronym for that.

[6] Or the rolling, or the floor, for that matter.

[7] Okay, it would probably be SamR’s Assorted Musings and Ramblings … Hey, that reminds me ….

[8] The R used to stand for something else. What was it? Oh, it was almost certainly SamR’s Assorted Musings and Reflections.
I like Rants better. I like it even more than Ramblings, even though I do both.

[9] Satan’s Extremely-Demonic, Obfuscated something something, if I recall correctly.

[10] Let’s see … Urban Dictionary [11] suggests that it just means Rolling on the Floor [12].

[11] Not the most reliable of sources.

[12] Or Rate of Fire. Or it’s a shorthand for a longer version of ROFL. Or something else.

[14] Wikipedia also includes both Rate ofFire" and Rolling on Floor as possibilities. I was surprised to discover that if you click on the link associated with the latter option, you end up at the page for LOL [15].

[15] Hey, it’s Wikipedia. That means I can add my own entry. Then this musing could be indirectly self-referential. I wish I wasn’t so lazy [16,19].

[16] Should that be I wish I were not so lazy? And, if so, could it be I wish that I weren’t so lazy? [17] Let’s see … when do you use the subjunctive mood? Wikipedia says,

Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that have not yet occurred. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood.

I did say I wish, which suggests that I should use were [18]

[17] Bleh.

[18] Of course, as I note in a subsequent endnote, I’m not all that lazy, so not so lazy has already occurred. By that reasoning, I should use I wish I was not or I wish I wasn’t. Damn, language is hard.

[19] Okay, it’s not that I’m lazy. I work too hard to call myself lazy. I’m just not inclined ot edit Wikipedia today. Maybe I should offer a prize for someone to add this new meaning of ROF [20].

[20] What would the prize be? An autographed version of this musing? A promise never to muse about the person who wins the prize? Absolutely nothing? Ah, the options are endless [21].

[21] Arguably, there are only a finite number of options, since I can only come up with a finite number in my lifetime. No, wait, I take that back. I could offer N autographed copies of this musing for any N [22].

[22] What is the relationship between endless and infinite but enumerable [23]? There’s likely a reason I switched from mathematics to CS.

[23] I was going to try to phrase that as an Imponderable but failed [24,26].

[24] Hey, Dave, it’s probably time to update that page [25].

[25] Perhaps you could explain what makes sick jokes sick. I don’t see anything about jokes in the master index.

[26] The Imponderables books got Michelle through Med School and Residency. Even though I made fun of Dave in the prior two endnotes, I am quite grateful [27].

[27] I was tempted to say eternally grateful [28], but then I’d end up detouring into the relationship between endless, enumerable, countably infinite, and perhaps other things, too.

[28] The Hemingway Editor would likely suggest that I drop the adverb altogether [29].

[29] Let me see …. Interesting. It was unhappy with eternally grateful [30], but did not flag quite grateful.

[30] Also countably infinite, which is not the same as infinite.

Version 1.0 of 2017-08-19.