Unscientific Survey: Initials
The signs at the borough limits say “Tree City, USA,” but there should really be something there about education as well. Not only are we home to Swarthmore College, but our residents have schooling on their minds.
That’s the clear finding of our latest Unscientific Survey, which asked if readers knew what a group of commonly used local initials stood for. The top five most recognizable were all schools or educational bodies:
SHHS/SHMS: Strath Haven High School and Middle School
WSSD: Wallingford-Swarthmore School District
WES: Wallingford Elementary School
SRS: Swarthmore-Rutledge School
NPE: Nether Providence Elementary School
As promised, here — starting with the most familiar — are what the other initials mean:
SRA: Swarthmore Recreation Association
CAC: Community Arts Center
HKF: Helen Kate Furness Free Library
SRV: The School in Rose Valley
TCDN: Trinity Cooperative Day Nursery
WSCC: Wallingford-Swarthmore Community Classes
SPL: Swarthmore Public Library
SSCA: Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association
RVMHS: Rose Valley Museum and Historical Society
HBNS: Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore
In last place was PFT. That’s appropriate because it doesn’t exist (at least not locally). We put it in there as a sort of wild card. So it was a little surprising that about 4.5% of respondents said they knew very well what PFT stood for. Be on your toes, people!
