posted 10-25-1998 12:48 AM            

The successful acronym is one folks pick up on and actually use so it should be meaningful and easy to remember. Its about time we evolve off the oral tradition and the FATF needs a ratings boost, so use this thread to make your suggestions.

Here's a start on the list of acronyms and terminology. [Many of these are well entrenched but some I'm just making up as I type ]

ABNR - Announced But Not Released. A piece HL officially states they will release but which is not available for purchase yet.

AP - Artist Proof

ARF - At Retail Forever. A piece with doggy sales that takes a long time to retire. Round Island is starting to bark.

BY - Bill Younger

BYOC - Bill Younger's Own Comments. As opposed to officially sanctioned Harbour Lights information. Sometimes Bill says stuff that should be taken with a grain of sea salt.

CH1 - the first mold version of the Cape Hatteras LE.

CH2 - the second mold version of the Cape Hatteras LE.

HL - Harbour Lights. The company.

HLCIC - Harbour Lights Collectors Information Center. Then name of John Chidester's web site before it became the official HL site.

LE - Limited Edition.

LH - Lighthouse

Mini - Miniature. The size of the smaller Reunion pieces. Smaller than an LE, bigger than a Thumbnail. Not the same as an ornament.

NADA - Not At Dealers Anymore. A retired piece no longer available at retail price from a dealer. Short form of SONADA.

NPL - New Point Loma. Refers to the 'full size' '97 Reunion model of that lighthouse.

OE - Open Edition

OTC - Off The Catwalk. The HL collector's equivalent of 'off the wagon'. "I promised the wife I'd stop buying every new release but I fell off the catwalk."

R@R - Retired at Retail. The proper name of a list showing models that are retired but can still be found at a dealer for retail. The list is available only on the HL web site.

Retired - See SOHL.

RBIT - Retired Before Its Time. A piece intentionally retired before HL sells its planned edition size to dealers. Can turn frogs into princes. EG. Burrows Island

REXA - Reunion Exclusive for Attendees. The full size model of Rose Island available for purchase only by actual attendees of the '98 Reunion.

REXM - Reunion Exclusive for Members. The full size model of Rose Island available for purchase by Society Members.

Shelf Life - the amount time from when a model is available to dealers until it can no longer be purchased from a dealer. Often difficult to measure.

SOAR - Sold Out At Retail. Only available on the secondary market. Thomas Point SOAR'd off dealers shelves.

SOBR - Sold Out Before Release. When the entire allotment of a model is sold to dealers before its actually in a store. When measuring the age of a piece at retirement, the age of a SOBR model is a negative number. EG. Sanibel Island -92 days old at retirement.

SOHL - Sold Out by Harbour Lights. Retired. This means Harbour Lights has no more of model 'X' to sell to its dealers. Dealers may or may not have X's to sell.

SOSAD - Sold Out Still At Dealer. The piece is retired (HL has no more to sell dealers) but dealers still have pieces to sell.

SONADA - Sold Out Not At Dealers Anymore. Not available at retail. Only available on the secondary market.

SMD - Secondary Market Dealer.

SMO - Secondary Market Only. SMO = NADA.

SMP - Secondary Market Price.

Dave. Stop Dave.

OK. Thats enuf for now. I'm sure there are common shorthands already in use I've left out. Feel free to append your own favorites.

Rgds,
__
/im

[This message has been edited by JTimothyA.]

posted 10-25-1998 04:09 AM            

Totally Addicted To The Purchase and Display Of All Harbour Lights - T.A.T.T.P.A.D.O.A.H.L

posted 10-25-1998 06:41 AM            

IBTA - I Buy Them All

Which, if unchecked can lead to:
D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

K.U.D.O.S. Tim, for assembling a new G.L.O.S.S.A.R.Y for H.L.A. (Harbour Lights Anonymous) members. And very impressive that you had them all in alphabetical order!

I'm a bit confused over the difference between SOAR and NADA and SONDADA [And isn't that a Korean or Japanese car?]. Should we limit SOAR to just those products that sold out at retail in 6 months or less? "Thomas Point was not just NADA, it SOAR'd!"

We need just a few more to describe all the nuances of availability:

RAD Readily Available [at] Dealers.

SONAMY Sold Out - Not All Manufactured Yet - When the pre-selling exceeds the production demand and it takes a few months for the manufacturing to catch up. [A tidal wave will hit dealers' shelves when the SONAMY products make it to American shores.]

ANSOT Announce Not Shipped On Time. Several LE's were ANSOT in late 1997 including Pigeon Point CA.

LIDS Lighthouse In Development Stage. HL wants to keep LIDS from becoming public knowledge.

In talking with HL I think they could be helped by a few anacronyms too:

OTW On The Water - product that has left the Orient and is loaded on a container ship heading for Port San Diego.

ITA In The Air - product that is being rush-shipped to meet an important deadline. In 1997, all the NPLs were ITA, arriving JIT (Just in Time) for the Reunion.

Sometimes when the container arrives, the lot has to be:
JEFFREYd - Refused for not meeting established quality standards. [A reference to several successive shipments of Jeffrey's Hook NY that caused the piece to be delayed for months] before readily being RAD.

Thanks, Tim, I knew I could count on you to not only fulfill the need, but exceed all expectations with the philosophy behind the acronyms.

Now, we need some terms to adequately describe the various levels of collecting HLs. From the 'just bought my first one' neophyte who has not yet loaded up the credit cards buying 30-40 in a month, to the 'early-year collector' who bought every one at retail to the tourist who has a Coquille River sitting in the Attic or who uses it has a (surprisingly effective) door stop. etc. Speculating collectors, selling off my extras, liquidating the collection, etc.

John [HLAFE] Harbour Lights Anonymous Founder Emeritus

P.S. "Shelf Life" - doesn't meet the 'Anacronym' definition. Perhaps MAAD Months Available At Dealers?

[He couldn't get it right the first time so...]

posted 10-25-1998 09:59 AM            

Perhaps because there is no difference? As suggested, NADA is the short form of SONADA. I prefer NADA but was feeling sufficiently formulaic to include the long form.

Since ITA suggests you're into time slicing, we might have ADOBE At Dealers Or Being Expected. But I figured someone might confuse this with that Mexican car you can't drive in the rain.

>>RAD Readily Available [at] Dealers. <<

I too had this on my list of possibilities. Along with its complement NORAD. But if you said NORAD I was concerned people might confuse you with Curtis LeMay. [g,d&r] We should probably keep RAD.

An adjunct to LIDS (which I like) is BLIP Beta Light In Progress. ('Beta' is standard computer industry speak for pre-release stuff). This covers lights rumored to be made. "Could that BLIP on the screen be a Seven Foot Troll?"

>>"Shelf Life" - doesn't meet the 'Acronym' definition. <<

Yeah - I thought about this. I figured we should let in terminology. Sometimes acronyms for acronyms sake is an unhappiness. And it lets use ones like 'Jeffrey' - thats a good one.

A couple more for us Wackos who keep spreadsheets.

DTR Days Til Retirement (RelDate minus RetDate)

DSR Days Since Retirement. (RetDate minus Today)

And for a final contribution:

SAS Seen At Show or Shown At Show.

>>Now, we need some terms to adequately describe the various levels of collecting HLs. <<

I'm having a hard enough time digesting what's just come on board. But the final stage for the over extended collector might be:

UDDUP Until Debt Do Us Part. "After he bought all the Coquille variations he went UDDUP"

posted 10-25-1998 10:22 AM            

BTW, is REXM ADOBE, RAD, or just OTW?
Is HL616 a BLIP or LID? (hasn't SAS or ABNR yet)

IM@WATSONARCH ASAP with As to my Qs
TTYL, being AOLd by the IP.

An HLA who's OTC & BTA UDDUP or DIVORCE
ROTFLMAO,

posted 10-25-1998 01:19 PM            

quote:

---

This sub-category of the Forum was titled "HAL" but I haven't found HAL in the list of acronyms. Help.

---

You'd think a handy acronym list would be clearly labeled.

Mysterious, ain't it? ;->

Rgds,
The Knights Templar

[This message has been edited by JTimothyA.]

posted 10-26-1998 09:36 AM            

Click on this link. It may take a few minutes to download the audio clue.

http://www.harbourlights.com/site/sounds/clue.wav
Remember, your answer must be in the form of a question.

Thanks, Rod Watson for the great audio help!!

posted 10-26-1998 08:14 PM            

The question is:

(1) Just who the heck is HAL, anyway?

-or-

(2) In what year will the next Reunion be?

-or-

(3) How many Harbour Lights reside in my home, rendering space an oddity?