Abbreviations: TRN and HIV

TRN is the accepted abbreviation for Taxpayer Registration Number. So if we know that the 'N' in the abbreviation stands for the word 'number', why then are we making reference to people's TRN number? TRN alone will do. The same goes for HIV.

We know it is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Since we know that the 'V' in the abbreviation is for the word 'virus' it is tautologous to say HIV virus. Beg oono stop it ... please.

Chester Draw

Chester must be a very wealthy man, because every week in the classifieds his products are sold.

For heaven's sake, the classifieds need to be edited. In advertising a chest of drawers, each week you get various permutations: chester draw, chester drawer, chesta draw, chestadraw.

Even if the public is making the errors in its bid to advertise, do the media not have a responsibility here? The Wordsmith surely thinks so.

For questions and comments, email: the speechcoach_ja @yahoo.com.