The Language of Scouting

Why did this not exist when I was newbie?

When you’re new to Scouting, one of the most confusing parts is all of the terminology – especially the acronyms. I didn’t know my ASPL from my NYLT. And what on earth is a NOAC and NLATS sounds like a made up disease. (“Yeah I’ve got this rash on my arm…I think it’s a flare-up of my NLATS.”) Don’t get me started on “Silver Beaver.” (Sometimes I like to look back in my life and try to figure out when the phrase “Silver Beaver Dinner” became a part of my regular vocabulary, but I digress.)

Now I had to learn like everyone else – fake it ‘til you make it. (I still remember trying, “So how did you like the 1998 NOAC? That would be the National Order of the Arrow Conference,” as a pseudo pickup line on my now husband. There’s something wrong with me.) Well, I’ve just read in the September-October 2012 Scouting Magazine that there is a section of scouting.org devoted to the “Language of Scouting” including a list Abbreviations and Acronyms Commonly Used in Scouting. This is unacceptable! You new people should have to spend some time thinking that COPE refers to scouts coping with the fact that they’ll be climbing a 40 foot rock wall. 

Anyhoo, check it out! I wish this had been around when I started out. TTYL!