Scouting Abbreviations and "Initialisms" --
Acroynms in Common Use

I wanted to keep this file short, so I've tried to avoid definitions, and just list what the letters stand for.  I hope this will clarify some of what you read, but I also hope you will avoid excessive abbreviating when you write or speak.  Some of these are in very common use by Scouting people of all kinds.  Others are very obscure, but have appeared in messages on list servers and e-mail messages.  

 AA	Associate Advisor (U.S. Explorer Post)
 AAC	Assistant Area Commissioner
 AC	Area Commissioner
 ACL	Assistant Cub Leader
 ADC	Assistant District Commissioner
 APC	Assistant Provincial Commissioner
 APL	Assistant Patrol Leader
 ARC	Assistant Regional Commissioner
 ASM	Assistant Scoutmaster
 ASPL  	Assistant Senior Patrol Leader
 AT	Appalachian Trail
 BL	Boy's Life (U.S. magazine)
 BLT	Basic Leadership Training (see also CBLT, SBLT)
 BP	Baden-Powell (Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell)
 BP&P  	By-laws, Policies & Procedures (Boy Scouts of Canada)
 BS	Boy Scouts
 BSA	Boy Scouts of America
 BSC	(very rare) Boy Scouts of Canada
 CA	Assistant Cubmaster
 CBLT  	Cub Basic Leadership Training
 CC	Committee Chairman
 CI	Cub Instructor
 CJ	Canadian Jamboree
 CL	Cub Leader
 CM	Cubmaster
 CO	Chartered Organization (local org. who holds a unit charter)
 COR	Camp-o-ree; Chartered Organization Representative
 CP	Chartered Partner
 CS	Cub Scout
 CSP	Council Shoulder Patch
 CTWB 	Cub Trainer Wood Badge
 DA	Assistant Den Leader
 DAC	District Activities Chairman
 DAM	District Award of Merit
 DC	District Commissioner
 DCL	District Cub Leader
 DCM	District Cubmaster
 DE	District Executive
 DL	Den Leader (U.S. Cubs)
 DOB	Do Our Best (in Cub Grand Howl)
 DRP	Declaration of Religious Principle
 DSL	District Scout Leader
 DYB	Do Your Best (in Cub Grand Howl)
 EA	Explorer Post Advisor
 EOA	Explorer Officers' Association
 FD	Field Director
 GGC	Girl Guides of Canada
 GL	Group Leader
 GS	Girl Scouts
 GSA	incorrect form of GSUSA
 GSM	Group Scoutmaster
 GSUSA	Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
 HB	Handbook
 HQ	Headquarters
 IHQ	International Headquarters
 JAL	Junior Activity Leader
 JLT	Junior Leader Training
 JOTA 	Jamboree-on-the-Air (ham radio)
 MAL	Member-at-Large (re: committees)
 MB	Merit Badge
 MC	Committee Member (U.S.)
 NOAC  	National Order of the Arrow Conference
 OA	Order of the Arrow
 PFE	Provincial Field Executive
 PL	Patrol Leader
 PLC	Patrol Leaders' Council
 POR	Policy, Organisation and Rules (U.K., Aus.)
 PTC	Philmont Training Center
 QM	Quartermaster
 RC	Regional Commissioner
 RT	Roundtable
 SIT	Scouter-in-Training
 SA	Assistant Scoutmaster (U.S.)
 SBLT 	Scout Basic Leader Training
 SLHB  	Scout Leaders' Handbook
 SE	Scout Executive
 SLWB  	Scout Leader Wood Badge
 SM	Scoutmaster
 SME	Sustaining Membership Enrollment
 SMF	Scoutmastership Fundamentals
 SOR	Scout-o-Rama
 SPL	Senior Patrol Leader
 SWTH  	Scouting with the Handicapped (Can., now called SYD)
 SYD	Scouting for Youth with Disabilities
 TLC	Troop Leaders' Council (see PLC)
 TTT	Train the Trainer
 UW	United Way
 VIQ	Venturer Interest Questionnaire
 WA	Assistant Webelos Den Leader
 WAGGGS	World Association of Girl Guides and Girls Scouts
 WB	Wood Badge
 WDL	Webelos Den Leader
 WJ	World Jamboree
 WL	Webelos Den Leader

Here are some other terms also in use, but I won't include abbreviations for them, unless I know abbreviations are already in use:

 Assistant County Commissioner
 District Cub Scout Leader
 Group Scout Leader

Here are some COMMON terms in use with computers:

 BBS	[Computerized] Bulletin Board System
 <BG>	Big Grin
 BTW	by the way
 CIM	CompuServe Information Manager (program to call CIS automatically)
 CIS	CompuServe Information Service
 CO	 [Online] Conference (CIS)
 DL	 download, also Data Library on CIS, now called LIB
 ENS	Executive News Service (available on CompuServe)
 EPSF	Encapsulated PostScript File
 FWIW	for what it's worth
 FYI	for your information
 GIF	Graphics Interchange Format (for color pictures)
 <gr>	grin
 IMHO	in my humble opinion (also IMO: in my opinion)
 IOW	in other words
 ITOH	on the other hand
 PD	 public domain (uncopyrighted)
 PPN	old name for CIS ID#
 RLE	Run Length Encoded (for black and white pictures)
 ROTFL  	Rolling on the Floor Laughing
 <VBG>  	Very Big Grin
 YIB	Yours in Brotherhood
 YIS	Yours In Scouting
 YITWBS 	Yours in the World Brotherhood of Scouting