a.c.r.o.n.y.m.s.

Last night I was talking with *ce* about acronyms that are geographically understood. She had gone to a cocktail party with some couples from dover (a wealthy suburb of boston) and was somewhat lost by the talk of r.l. and y.h.p. One woman in particular went on and on about how important it was for her son to get ahead in school so that he could go to r.l. Because if he didn't get into r.l., then he might not get into y.h.p. Eventually one of the hosts pointed out that not everyone knew what she was talking about. Surprised, she clarified that r.l. was roxbury latin, and y.h.p. was yale, harvard, princeton. *ce,* who's originally from l.a., was amused by the distinctly upper class, new england style of abbreviations, and pointed this out. I'm not sure what the guests' reactions were.
In the same conversation, she talked about one of her sisters, who still lives in california, and who used the acronym i.t.s. Neither *ce* nor her other sister (the acronym user's twin) knew what this meant, despite the fact that they all grew up in california, and two of them still live there. Her sister complained that, while pregnant, she was losing her i.t.s, and was very upset by it. Turns out that i.t.s. means "inner thigh separation" and even though *ce* and her other sister didn't know what it meant, their brother confirmed that it's a widely used abbreviation in parts of california.
I pray that I never use any of these acronyms. Mostly because I can picture the type of people who would use them, and they're not who I want to be.