Minor rant from a SketchUp user with 15+ years in wholesaling construction parts/supplies

Does it bother anyone else when someone on this forum uses “SKU” as an abbreviation for “SketchUp”?

It bothers me - because “SKU” is fairly universally used in inventory management systems at the manufacturer, distributor and retail levels. In those contexts, it refers to “Stock Keeping Unit” - the basic unit of inventory.

I vastly prefer “SU” as an abbreviation for “SketchUp” because, in my mind, it doesn’t trigger my long mental association of SKU with Stock Keeping Unit. EVERY time I see “SKU” on this forum, my mind tries to interpret the post in inventory terms! It often takes me 2-4 reads before I realize “Duh! They mean SketchUp - not Stock Keeping Unit!”

This is not something I’m ever likely to even mention in any post that uses “SKU” - just a minor rant on how use of “SKU” in this forum can throw people with inventory experience for a loop!

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Ha! I have had this same struggle! SKU is Stock Keeping Unit.

SU is SketchUp!

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I take it you have experience, probably extensive, in contexts where SKU means “Stock Keeping Unit”?

And just to show others where this can be a problem, this just appeared in the forums:

See that “sku” there? It sure isn’t referring to Stock Keeping Unit! But as I said in my original post, even with this issue at the top of my mind, it took me a couple of reads before I understood the post! Had it been “SU” instead of “sku”, I would have comprehended immediately!

SKU is obviously a Stock Keeping Unit.

SU is Sunday.
SU is Stanford University.
SU is the Unix/Linux SuperUser.
SU is the international vehicle reg-plate for Belarus.
SU is for the Strontium Unit.
and many more…

but

SUp is undoubtedly SketchUp…

:wink:

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From my roots SU was always ‘Shut Up’ and more often than not, with ‘t’ and an ‘F’ placed somewhere in the abbreviation! But I’m far more grown up now.:mask:

Super User…

It was also the extinct Soviet Union. The file format .skp is in our parts an abbreviation for the Finnish Communist Party… :smile:

Basically I am quite sure that any combination of letters denotes something undesirable in some of the languages used on the Earth.

Anssi

StumbleUpon

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You should get with the industry, SKU has been used many times and the context used by Microsoft was the various types of versions for their widows releases. ( home edition etc.) May be before wasting folks time you should spend some under standing time or ask a question.
Do you really think MS would be talking about SU in their release of a major up grade??

My bad! At the time I wrote post #3 in this thread I was so focused on ranting about use of “sku” when it’s meant as an abbreviation for “SketchUp” that I only noticed the use of “sku” and not the context!

Of course MS rightly uses “sku” to keep track of their inventory - at least when it represented shippable media. Not so sure about now, with many of their installations (mine, for instance) being done through download. It kinda-sorta breaks the idea of “Stock Keeping Unit” when you don’t have to take one away when you sell one!

I vote SKUP as the solution

What has it been now about 2 years plus MS was pushing the free up grade form 8 to 10 but then they had so many terms conditions “SKU” related they thru me for loop and had to spend some time searching to find out what they meant. I specifically used it in my post anticipating I would ref. back to that time period but then did not and violated a cardinal rule of technical. writing > IE if you use non standard abbreviation follow it up with the full definition. I’ll try and do better!

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Where I used to work, the standard practice was to use a term fully spelled out once followed by the abbreviation you would subsequently use. So, SketchUp (SU) at the first use and then just SU (or whatever) afterward.

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same here unless was a accepted. I have a small handbook that list the ISO standards but that is related to measurements like furlong per fortnight :smiling_imp:
Did I blow the rule??

I don’t always abbreviate SketchUp, but when I do, I use SKP… because that’s clearly the way to do it! :slight_smile:

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I use SKP. Does anyone recall when we used to refer to a SKP model as a “Skippy”??? :o)

Yes. I am that old, and even older: Skippy was a kangaroo in an Australian TV series for kids that was on the air very, very long ago. Thanks and no thanks - the irritating song from that came back and started playing in my head (earworms, we call them in our parts).

Anssi

Skippy aired in Norway “just” 20 years ago :joy:

But back to topic, I do agree with sjdorst that everything other than SU is confusing. It’s already written Sketch Up.

Oh no, now that Skippy-theme is stuck in my head too :frowning:

I never thought about or worried about this but will do so just as soon as the world puts an end to people dying from starvation and to genocide.

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A rose by any other name is still a rose. Call SketchUp anything you like and it’ll still do what you want it to do and confuse the hell out of a beginner…