Common Mensa Acronyms and Terms
AG - Annual Gathering. Mensa's annual convention, which meets in various host cities.
AMC - American Mensa Committee, the ruling body of American Mensa. Consists of elected officers and several appointed officers.
AML - An abbreviation for "American Mensa, Limited" the official name of our group.
BoMB - Borderline Mensa M-Bassador, the name of our local group newsletter.
CAP - Community Activities Program. Many of our members join to help the organization "do more" in the local community.
Colloquium - A national gathering with a serious purpose. The first Colloquium in 1982 was cited as "a forum for any interested Mensan to explore, debate, evaluate and offer judgment on a major issue of long-range importance to society."
ExCom - Executive Committee. In Borderline Mensa, this consists of four elected officers: LocSec, Assistant LocSec, Treasurer, and Secretary.
FSM - Fold, Staple, and Mutilate.
GOTYA - Group Of The Year Award. Begun in 1999 to recognize and reward Local Groups' membership-related activities and their active participation in all that Mensa has to offer. It is a competitive program in which all Local Groups participate.
GPM - Greater Phoenix Mensa.
LDW - Leadership Development Workshop. A gathering that provides standardized courses to improve the skills and knowledge of local group officers and any other Mensan interested in learning how to better serve their local group.
LocSec - Local Secretary, president of a local group of Mensa. The title is a holdover, reflecting Mensa's British origins, from the time when that officer was in fact simply a secretary reporting to national Mensa.
M - A Mensan of either sex. Plural is Ms (pronounced "emz," not "miz"). FM and MM denote the genders; SFM, DMM and the like add marital status or other, similarly deducible information.
MERF - Mensa Educational Research Foundation. Recently shortened to Mensa Foundation but the acronym of MF has not caught on yet.
N.O. - National Office. Nationwide level of American Mensa. Often used as shorthand for AMC, AML, or the good folks at the central office in Arlington, Texas.
MTD - Mensa Testing Day. This annual event is American Mensa's largest testing effort as prospective members across the U.S. sit for our supervised testing in their areas. In 2004, more than 1,200 people tested at 200 test sites.
OIJMTOU - Okay, I'm Just Making This One Up.
PRP - Publications Recognition Program. A voluntary program, highlighting deserving newsletters and Web sites, with the overall goals of wider distribution and better communication among Mensans. The program allows Local Groups with any level of editorial experience, regardless of size or publication budget, to compete fairly and win awards.
RG - Regional Gathering. Sponsored by a local group, an RG draws its attendance from its own and neighboring groups. If you have a little money, you like to travel, and you have an interest in other places, you'll love sampling the various RGs. An RG features games, partying, food, music, lectures (on anything and everything from investments to palm reading), and general fooling around. RGs are held in hotels and motels. The local host group bargains hard for good group rates, so it's a very inexpensive way to stay in another city. Many groups set up tours of museums and other local attractions and coordinate trips to local resaurants. Attendance can range from 50 to 500.
RVC - Regional Vice-Chair. Elected by and for a geographic region of Mensa, this officer represents that region on the AMC and works to foster growth and development within the region.
SIG - Special Interest Group. A means of bringing together Ms who have a common interest in a specific subject. It can be a national SIG, communicating by newsletter or correspondence only, or a local SIG that becomes a regular part of a Mensan's social life.
SIGHT - The Service of Information, Guidance and Hospitality to Travelers allows members to enjoy the company and hospitality of Mensans when traveling throughout the U.S. and more than 40 other countries.
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