Abbrev.

So I'm embroiled in my reading for Human Variation and I keep getting confused and distracted. I'm sure the material is doing it's part as the scope feels less focused and defined than in past weeks. But a large part of it is due to the fact that I keep misreading an abbreviation in my mind. LD. What does that mean to you?

In the world of this week's Human Variation assignments, it means 'Linkage Disequilibrium', or 'the nonrandom association of alleles'. In that context it's neat because it's a means of variation in the genetic code beyond single point changes. But the problem is that for the longest time I read strategies for a certain children's card game and, unless I keep a laser focus, I read LD as 'Land Destruction', one of the most annoying, pathological game strategies. I keep hitting LD in this 15 page article and my gut reaction says 'ewwww, I hate LD'. I don't want to read about LD because if I agree with it, it's just going to be bitching and moaning, and if I don't I'm going to find myself in direct opposition to whoever thinks it's a justified deck theme. It takes me a moment to remember: 'Human Variation. LD is kind of cool.'

Abbreviations can be used because of relevance. They only make sense under the assumption that both the reader and the writer have similar background experiences. They cease to provide a convenient, abbreviated form of communication, however, once they become homophones in the written word.