<p>Heck Beez, my life is just one big double entendre (heh heh, if ya know what I mean)</p>
<p>OK sorry to be the party crasher, but actually I have always wondered exactly what does OP stand for? Original poster?</p>
<p>BA = Bachelor of Arts (when used on this forum, indicates music as area of major within a humanities program)
BFA = Bachelor of Fine Arts
BM = Bachelor of Music Performance
BMus = Bachelor of Music Performance
BOCO = Boston Conservatory, sometimes seen as BoCo
BUTI = Boston University Tanglewood Institute
CC = College Confidential, the site that hosts this Forum
CC = Community College
CCM = College Conservatory of Music, affiliated with the University of Cincinnati
CIM = Cleveland Institute of Music
CMU = Carnegie Mellon University
D = Daughter
DD = Dearest (or Darling) Daughter
DH = Dearest (or Darling) Husband
DS = Dearest (or Darling) Son
DW = Dearest (or Darling) Wife
EA = Early Action, the non-binding form of early application to a school
ED = Early Decision, the binding form of early application to a school
ESM = Eastman School of Music
H = Husband
IU = Indiana University
JHU = Johns Hopkins University, home of The Peabody Institute
LAC = Liberal Arts College
MAW = Music Academy of the West
MSM = Manhattan School of Music
MT = Musical Theater or Musical Theatre
NEC = New England Conservatory
OP = Original Poster, the person who starts any given thread
PM = Personal Message
RD = Regular Decision, the standard form of application to a school
S = Son
TA = Teaching Assistant, usually a graduate student
TMC = Tanglewood Music Center
VP = Vocal Performance or Voice Performance
W = Wife</p>
<p>OP----Andy’s son and the nicest kid in Mayberry.</p>
<p>^ Does that mean we have to specify fife (Barney) versus fife (instrument)?</p>
<p>or is that fife {Barney} versus fife {instrument}?</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>After a thorough review of Strunk and White, cross referenced with Turabian, The Chicago Manual of Style, Robert’s Rules of Order and Newton’s Principia, it appears to depend on whether you are going from the generic to specific, or vice versa. To identify a particular member of a class, you would use the parentheses, hence</p>
<p>Fife (Barney) or
Barney (Fife) vs Barney (Rubble) vs Barney (the dinosaur)</p>
<p>To disambiguate between two or more possibilities by specifying the germane superset of objects to which a specified item belongs, you would use the curly brackets, hence</p>
<p>Fife {instrument} vs Fife {fictional character}</p>
<p>Sometimes both are needed, as in</p>
<p>Barney (take your pick) {annoying fictional television character}</p>
<p>Is that all clear?
BassDad {puller of legs}</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So, if one were entering two Barneys on a hypothetical alphabetized list of fictional annoying television characters, the entrees would appear as? </p>
<p>Barney (annoying rural deputy)
Barney (annoying purple dinosaur)</p>
<p>Applying the specific-to-general rule would suggest the use of curly brackets in that instance. Also, they would appear in the opposite alphabetical order because purple comes before rural, everything up to that point being the same.</p>
<p>I love you. All of you!</p>
<p>Why thank you. Most people who love me at all only love part of me. (And before violadad asks, I will not specify which part that is.)</p>
<p>Am I going to have to pull this car over?</p>
<p>Boys…behave yourselves.</p>
<p>Isn’t it about time someone tells that one joke about it being the Bottom of the Ninth and the Basses are Loaded?</p>
<p>Oh, don’t mind us. If this were anyone else’s thread, I would have been annoyed at the hijack (or should that be hijinks) myself. As it is, I can’t stay mad with myself long enough to write the scathing reply I so richly deserve.</p>
<p>Niagara Falls! Slowly, I turned…</p>
<p>well how 'bout something short and sweet? “Nicht diese Töne!”</p>
<p>By all means. Please tell us what you find angenehmere und freudenvollere.</p>
<p>In my defense (although I should probably pay for better): Hijack was unintended - it was actually more of an ‘aside’. My second post - I throw myself on the mercy of the court. I just couldn’t help myself. This thread is making me both laugh outloud, and chuckle to myself. Bravo!</p>
<p>Actually I was referring to my own hijacking of the thread and no one else’s. If anyone requires defending, I am the one who should be looking for counsel.</p>
<p>Correcting format and alpha order.</p>
<p>Barney {annoying purple dinosaur}
Barney {annoying rural deputy}</p>
<p>And as BassDad couldn’t stay mad at himself long enough to write the scathing reply he so richly deserved, I took the time to compose one.</p>
<p>In retrospect, it was full of baseball metaphors rife with double entendre, so I decided not to post it.</p>
<p>Thank you for going through all that trouble. I shall consider myself most duly scathed.</p>