I don't think we're in school anymore...

This morning, I had dissection. As part of our data collection, there are a bunch of measurements we take externally. All of these have three letter abbreviations so that we don't have to say, "pre-first dorsal-fin length." "PD1" is just a little shorter. Some of these abbreviations, though, I've used before in other contexts and it always makes me laugh, say, when I ask someone for "PSP" but I'm not talking to my little brother about some new game system (prespiracular length vs. Playstation Portable, for those who are lost). So here's the rest of the abbreviations which I've learned new meanings to: 

-GS3 does not mean my pay grade for my job with US Fish and Wildlife Service anymore. Now it means "third gill slit height." 

-CPU, normally used in referring to computers ("central processing unit" and yes, I had to look up the exact meaning of the acronym), is now "upper postventral caudal-fin margin."

-LLA is no longer Loma Linda Academy. It has been redefined to mean "lower labial-furrow length."

-ESL doesn't mean "English as a second language," instead, it means "eye spiracle space."

-And possibly my favorite: D2L, or Desire 2 Learn (though no one on campus except a few teachers ever calls it by its full name), is a website my school uses to keep everyone notified about classes and as a place where people can upload papers or teachers can post syllabi and whatnot. Here, though, it means "second dorsal-fin length." Nope, definitely not in school anymore. 

Photos of dissection from a couple weeks ago.
Katelyn and Emily measuring Spiny Dogfish.

Emily and Sarah examining the internal anatomy of
their Spiny Dogfish.