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Thanks to the magic of electronic communication, it’s possible for the good doctor to make house calls. Make your needs for visitation known by sending your request to info@geoprofessional.org. Here’s a recent exchange.

Member:

Help us, Dr. English! We are debating the use of “a” or “an” before REC, the acronym for ASTM’s “Recognized Environmental Condition.” The controversy stems from whether one pronounces the acronym as a word or individual letters.

Dr. E:

Glad to help! The article you select – “a” or “an” – indicates how you believe the acronym should be pronounced. Phonetically…

A rec or An are-ee-see.

Thus A NASCAR fan and An NCAA Final-Four fan. Phonetically, NASCAR begins with the letter N while NCAA begins with the letter E (En See Ay Ay).

Member:

Thanks for the quick response, Doctor. Looks like we need to decide for our purposes if REC should be an acronym (a “wreck”) or an abbreviation (an “are – ee – see”), or – to avoid confusion – if we should simply spell out “recognized environmental condition” throughout the report as is done in the ASTM standard.

Dr. E:

Bear in mind that acronyms were created in the age of typewriters, to make things faster and simpler at a time when one mistake on a page meant retyping the whole page. Now, with global editing, you can change 6,284 RECs to 6,284 recognized environmental conditions in about what? 2 seconds?

And so it goes.

The good doctor has written about this issue before, with little effect. Now the good doctor is getting angry and may be ready to start making unrequested house calls. The topic: Expressions that have gotten twisted about, like the one that suggests we should hone in on one issue or another. But people do not hone in; they (as trained pigeons) home in. Hone in is just plain wrong.

People also continue to flesh out when they mean to flush out and vice versa. When one fleshes out, one (metaphorically) adds flesh to the bones, or words and sentences to an outline. When one flushes out, one gives exposure to something otherwise hidden, like a pheasant. Similarly, people confuse plan on and plan to. “I plan on going” actually means “I plan to go,” and professionals should express it as such. Plan on identifies the factors used to establish a plan; e.g., “When developing my system to win the state lottery, I plan on the frequency of sun spots. I haven’t won yet, but I plan to.”

Next, first right of refusal. Nope. What’s a “first right”? The real expression is right of first refusal, something usually gained by contract and meaning that party A is given the first option to refuse (or accept) a deal.

And if you want to debate any of this, you do not have another thing coming; you have another think coming.

“Farther” and “further” have for many years been considered interchangeable, but they are not the same. “Farther” is associated with physical distances. As such, if you can substitute “more distance” (e.g., more yards, more laps, or more miles) for “farther,” you probably have used “farther” correctly.

As examples:

• I wanted to run farther, but my knee started to hurt.
• My house is farther from school than yours.
• The new car goes a lot farther on a tank of gas.

“Further” relates to a symbolic or metaphorical distance, depth, or height, usually measured in terms of time, quantity, or degree.

If you can replace “further” with “additional” (among other words), you have probably used it correctly; e.g.:

• I called for further discussion of the matter.
• I need to look further into the possibility of moving closer to school.
• I hope gasoline prices drop further.

If you want further discussion of this topic, we’re no farther away than your telephone or keyboard.

When you purchase a service, you make the buying decision before what you buy is “fabricated” and delivered. Some people liken this to buying a bucket of steam…and they’re not far off the mark. So, what is it that people really purchase when they buy a service from your firm via you? They buy you! And why would they do that? Because they trust you. Professional selling, then, is really a matter of building trust with client and prospective client representatives. How do you do this?

Don’t sell! Instead, try to be the representatives’ trusted professional advisor. Start by becoming intimately familiar with their industry, industry sector, and company. Use the Internet and review annual reports, financial reports (from companies like eTrade), and so forth. What are the challenges being faced? Figure it out, and then speak with your client and prospective client representatives. “I see that you guys are looking down the barrel of ——,” you might say. “Am I right?” The representative may be somewhat taken aback by your knowledge, and might respond, “Not only that, but ——.”

The question then becomes, How can you help? And the answer is, By contributing ideas. And here’s the key issue: They do not have to be ideas about services you can fulfill. You simply want to help by contributing as many good ideas as you can. Being part of a marketing circle can help in this respect.

A marketing circle is a group of colleagues who regularly work together to share market information. As a geoprofessional, you may participate with an architect, civil engineer, structural engineer, CPA, advertising account manager, attorney or two, and a financial advisor, among others.

These folks would typically meet once a month for breakfast, and share what they’ve learned. You could propose that they all provide ideas on how to help your client or prospective client rep. Note that the ideas can come from their connections and life experiences. The same approach could be used with a group of your colleagues in your firm, although the diversity of ideas will be less robust.

No matter what, you want to develop a basketful of concepts to pick and choose from, and you could share the best with the representative involved. Your goal: To be of help, thus to demonstrate that you want your client rep to succeed, which is a fundamental basis for trust.

“You don’t do any of this stuff, though,” the client rep might say about some of your best suggestions. “I know,” you could respond. “I just want to help. So when you do need my services, you’ll give me the first call.” “I will,” you hope representatives respond enthusiastically. Because they trust you.

We frequently receive inquiries from members, and sometimes we publish them. This is one of those times.

Hello, GBA! We are in the midst of a discussion that we can’t seem to resolve among ourselves.  Our discussion revolves around e-mail signatures and professional licensing. At what point does having the P.E. in a signature line become an offer of providing professional engineering services? Does having the P.E. designation after your name indicate that you are registered to practice in the state where the e-mail recipient is located?  Does the physical address with the signature indicate that the person is registered in that location and the absence of other state listings limit the representation to that state?  Should the states in which the person is registered be listed after the designation as they would in a resumé or proposal for services?

GBA’s John Bachner replied: P.E. refers to a license awarded by a state after an individual passes an exam that is more or less the same as what is offered in all other states. I do not see (personally) how indicating one has passed an exam can be used to indicate that one is illegally offering services. My own attitude is that people who have earned a P.E. should use the designation wherever and whenever they can and not worry about someone claiming a P.E. should not be allowed to call himself or herself a P.E. if the letter or e-mail may be read in a state where the person isn’t licensed.

Nonetheless, given that some firms on their e-mails include a notice about confidentiality, possible errors, etc., that is many lines long, I see no problem in adding to it, maybe as a separate item, something like:

Mr. Smith is licensed to practice in Maryland and Virginia.

OR one could add,

The P.E. and P.G. designations indicate an individual is licensed in one or more states. Because engineers and geologists lack a common honorific (e.g., Esq.), common degree (such as M.D.), or common certification (like C.P.A.) to indicate their professional status, many do so by using their P.E. or P.G. designation even in states where they are not licensed. This is done solely to indicate the fact that they are professional engineers or professional geologists; it is not an offer to perform engineering or geology in states or other jurisdictions where they are not licensed.

One could also put after one’s name, John Jones, P.E. (VA, NM), or maybe even John Jones, P.E./MD, P.E./VA

I’m a John Jones, P.E. (no matter where) kind of guy, and somewhat recklessly advise others to live dangerously in that manner. (Why do the world’s most important professionals have these problems?)