Abbreviations

Q. What is the proper way of writing in full the initialism OIC (which stands for Officer-In-Charge)?

Q. I’m copyediting some storyboards for kiosk displays in a state park and in the description of a historical site, there’s reference to “2,500 BP.” I know what that means (now that I’ve looked it up), but why not just say “ago”? Should I assume the audience for these displays will know “BP,” or may I suggest simply saying “ago”? (I thought, “British Petroleum,” for Pete’s sake.)

Q. I am writing a Q&A document with 75 questions and answers. Can I abbreviate common phrases (e.g., mental health [MH]) throughout the document, or should each Q&A be treated as independent with no abbreviations in the document?

Q. Dear CMOS, I’ve often encountered “business process outsourcing” abbreviated to BPO whether it’s used as a noun or as an adjective. To my ear, the abbreviation is fine as an adjective but sounds awkward when used and read as a noun, in which case I use the full form. For example, “The company provides IT support and BPO services”—fine. “The company provides services in IT support and business process outsourcing”—fine. “The company provides services in IT support and BPO”—awkward. Is it just me, or does this preference have a sound grammatical basis?

Q. This is a question of some debate in my organization: which way should the following document (and other similar documents) be abbreviated? Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) or Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002?

Q. CMOS recommends spelling out terms on first mention in each chapter. I’m considering spelling out my commission’s name on first mention in each section and subsection. Do you think that’s overkill? I’m thinking about spelling it out in sections that stand out, such as text boxes or highlighted bullets, because I think the reader would be better served to see the whole name in such isolated cases. We have about a hundred mentions of this long name, so I do want to abbreviate as much as possible.

Q. Based on CMOS 10.4, Los Angeles should appear as LA, but this can create confusion between the city and the state of Louisiana. How then do you treat Los Angeles when you need to abbreviate it?

Q. Which is the correct name for a law degree—juris doctor or juris doctorate?

Q. Is it acceptable to use an acronym for the first time in a subheading? Or should an acronym only be used in the information that follows a subheading even if it’s the second time the word appears?

Q. In running text, what is the preferred way to write “Washington, D.C.”?