Abbreviations and acronyms are everywhere and depending on the context, they can mean different things to different people.  When I entered the working world, every time I started a new career there was a whole new list of abbreviations to learn.  Genealogy is no different.

Abbreviations and Acronyms: Guide for Family Historians by Kip Sperry has provided me with a starting point with some of these.  Now, if everyone could be consistent and abbreviations could only be used once, that would be wonderful.  Not going to happen, and with that, I still have to look at the context to determine what the abbreviation is referring to.  So instead of thinking all genealogists were using a Global Positioning System (GPS) they were actually following the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS).

And yes, Kentucky can be seen as KEN or KY in different records.