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Would it be useful for us to have two EL&U Glossaries on the site.

The first could be for SE and EL&U specific abbreviations and acronyms, including ones that just happen to crop up a lot here.

The second could be for terminology that differs between different grammars, specialist fields and so forth.

So in one we could have OP, FAQ, AFTK, TPTB, wiki and so-forth. The other might have apodosis, V3, NP, prep, predicator and so on.

What do you think?

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  • 1
    Fersher. We could start with easy ones like tense and phrasal verb and work our way up.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Apr 5, 2016 at 14:02
  • 2
    It's a good suggestion. Though I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out to be just as highly-adopted as the help center and tour are. :P
    – John Clifford
    Apr 5, 2016 at 14:03
  • 2
    We have the one, but not the other,
    – choster
    Apr 5, 2016 at 14:04
  • Yes, users will find it useful: english.stackexchange.com/questions/315968/what-does-ahd-mean
    – user66974
    Apr 5, 2016 at 14:31
  • 1
    Yes, it would. But the real question is, would new users - the ones who seem to need it the most - really read it? Use it? Read it when it's pointed out to them? Care? Most people - not all, but most - simply want an answer; they don't want to wade through useful information before getting the answer they desire. This is the cynic in me talking.
    – anongoodnurse
    Apr 5, 2016 at 15:49
  • 2
    @medica Well, yes. But I think the other real question is would they find it? I found it very difficult to navigate EL&U when I first got here. It might help if it was not a post on Meta, but a page on the main site, easily see-able. After all, a majority of the readers here aren't posters, they come here primarily to read. And most will never venture onto Meta at all.
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Apr 5, 2016 at 15:52
  • Some sites (like health) have a permanent "box" (?) announcing something (on health, it's a disclaimer.) I can see something like this for quick help. Bit AFAIK, only CMs can approve and implement these, and the argument will be that that's what the help pages are for.
    – anongoodnurse
    Apr 5, 2016 at 16:12
  • @medica What's AFAIK? CM=community mod?
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Apr 5, 2016 at 16:13
  • 2
    Haha. AFAIK = As Far As I Know; CM = Community Manager (above the mods.) Reminds me of the TL;DR post. :)
    – anongoodnurse
    Apr 5, 2016 at 16:14
  • One problem is that sometimes terminology and concepts differ, so you can't always map terms from one terminological universe to another :-(
    – user28567
    Apr 5, 2016 at 19:53
  • @snailboat That's true. But we can try to do some mapping where we can though :) For example, V3=past participle or protasis= if-clause=antecedent.
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Apr 5, 2016 at 21:43
  • 2
    It is unfortunate but FAQs, wikis, help are somehow hidden to new users (this is a universal principle about the web not just here). Also, to access by search, you need to use the site specific search and just the right keywords. But it would still be very welcome for you to create a grammar terminology FAQ/meta post, and to add to our existing metapost of acronyms/abbrevs (via @choster).
    – Mitch
    Apr 6, 2016 at 2:13
  • Don't forget that there are featured meta posts listed in the box on the right. The [featured] tag is set by moderators and could be applied to such questions.
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Apr 6, 2016 at 8:32
  • 2
    +1. There's precedent for this idea on other SE sites.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Apr 16, 2016 at 14:59
  • Would the grammar-related terms support canonical Q&As on the main site? Canonical main Q&As would be more discoverable than meta posts, would permit more detail (even multiple answers, for terms with multiple meanings), and can be used as duplicate closure targets. (Disclaimer: my only ELU participation is flagging spam.)
    – Jeffrey Bosboom
    Apr 19, 2016 at 8:08

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