Short is good, clear is better

Swiftmud. Softmud. PIP. GMA. CO.

All of these are acronyms that have appeared in the newspaper for which I used to work. How many of them do you know? As someone who had just moved to Florida, I didn't know a single one. I was told they are common acronyms to the area.

Funny, I queried about six other employees and not a single one knew. It seems obvious to me that if seven newspaper workers (reporters and design deskers) haven't got a clue, a good many regular old readers won't, either. Also remember that most of our population hasn't lived here forever so it's not like people grew up hearing these terms.

Swiftmud and Softmud were the subject of a lot of debate. I see these terms used in various area newspapers, but haven't run across it anywhere else.

Swiftmud is the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
Softmud is the South Florida Water Management District.

One of the most confusing stories I've ever attempted to wade through involved these organizations and the repeated use of Swiftmud and Softmud. What's wrong with southwest florida district vs. south florida district. Yes, it's more characters, but brevity does you no good if it's not accompanied by clarity.

PIP is Personal Injury Protection and surfaces in automobile insurance stories. Again, why should I have to remember PIP? Can't you just write what it is? I'm YOUR customer, after all.

GMA is the Growth Management Act. I had an argument with the reporter who used this. He wanted to save space. So he stuck in acronyms instead of doing a little self-editing and figuring out what parts of his stories were too technical and behind-the-scenes to be of value to readers. All of his stories were too long.

CO. Dear Lord. This is certificate of occupancy. What editor or reporter would ever think the average person would know this?