Session 2: Abbreviations

The goal with abbreviations is to represent as closely as possible the "structure" of the print abbreviations. For example, in my name and title:

Mr. R. R. Gotwals, Jr., B.S., MS.Ed.

the braille would be:

Some items to notice here:

Initials of a person's name: are written with a space between them and may be separated at the end of a line. When initials are written together in print, they should be unspaced in the braille and kept on the same line of braille:
Capitalization signs (either single or double) are used as appropriate. If a period appears in the abbreviation, such as in the abbreviation "MS.Ed." above, the appropriate capitalization is used after the period.
For the abbreviation "B.S." (meaning Bachelor of Science), the rule is that if the abbreviation is made up of the initial letters of two or more words, the braille abbreviation should not have any spaces and it should all stay on the same line.

In most cases, abbreviations follow the format of their print equivalents. For example, in the abbreviation for "lieutenant commander":

Lieut. Comm.

This brings up the next point. Contractions should be used in abbreviations, with one basic exception:

The contractions be, con, and dis should not be used unless they would also have been used in the word when fully spelled out. You should also not use contractions if the single letters of the contraction represent a complete word. For example:

Full Phrase	Print Abbreviation	Braille Abbreviation
Formula Translation	FORTRAN	(FOR)TRAN (contracted)
Daughters of the American Revolution	DAR	DAR (uncontracted)

In the example above, we can use the contraction "for" since it is also used in the full phrase. In the second example, DAR, we cannot use the "ar" contraction since each individual letter in "ar" stands for a different word in the full phrase.

In cases where there is a compound abbreviation, use the double capital sign once . For example, in the sentence:

He is a member of the USNA-USNR Alumni Association

Dates, regardless of which format is used (11/10/97, 11-10-97, 11.10.97, or 10.XI.97) should be written using the hyphen, typically with the month being the first in the series. However, print does not always use a month-day-year format, and the transcriber is to follow the format of the print date.

Telephone numbers are written following the print format. No contractions should be used, as in the 800 number heard on the radio lately:

1-800-BEER

(shows you what kind of radio stations I listen to, doesn't it?)

Other odds and ends:

Apostrophes should be inserted in plural abbreviations even if they are not in print. For example, "The SEFs main goal...." should be brailled "The SEF's main goal..."
Postal codes, such as "P.O.B.1" should be brailled unspaced and should not be divided between lines. This includes international codes that may consist of two "chunks" with a space between them. The space should be maintained, but the entire code may not be divided between lines. For example:
Gloucester Green, Oxford, OX1 2DA
Oblique strokes, such as in "c/o" for "in care of" are brailled as they appear in the print. A new capital or double capital sign should follow the oblique stroke as appropriate.

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