It might be handy to explain the abbreviations — or even some of the terms I use on this weblog. They are ordered alphabetically. Feel free to contact me if you miss anything!

| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N |
| O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9

B

BAFAB = Buy A Friend A Book : it is a nice idea to buy a book for a friend in the first week of January, April, July and October. Just for the fun of it, to surprise someone. Although four times a year may be a bit much ;) top

BBW = Banned Books Week : a yearly American event celebrating the freedom to read. It is also spreading outside the US through the book blogging community. top

BC (or BX) : short for bookcrossing. top

Bentō : ‘boxed lunch’; a carefully prepared and packed meal (often lunch), which should both be balanced and appealing to the eye (usually done by using different colours, cutting techniques and accessories). It is believed that using at least 5 different colours guarantees your necessary variety in food. A healthy bentō is considered to contain carbohydrates (koolhydraten), proteins (eiwitten), vegetables (groente), and a side dish or dessert (bijgerecht, toetje of iets te snoepen) in the ratio 4 : 3 : 2 : 1. A visual ‘howto’ for packing your lunch this way can be found on Lunchinabox. Another favourite website is Justbento. Not only should a bentō contain a variety of colours and nutritional value, but it should also vary in type of taste and texture.

Bentō originates in Japan but is conquering the world (thanks to the internet), being adjusted to local foods and habits. It can be taken in any lunch box but most bentōers, like me, prefer special bentō boxes. top

Bookcrossing : the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise, writing journal entries about the book along the way. To do so a book must be given an unique identification number (called BCID) by registering it on bookcrossing.com. top

BTT = Booking Through Thursday : a bookrelated question appearing each Thursday on the Booking Through Thursday website, encouraging book bloggers to post about this theme. I only participate in btt when it really triggers me. top

BTW = By The Way… top

BX (or BC) : short for bookcrossing. top

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C

CSA = Community-Supported Agriculture : a system in which a community of individuals involve to support a farm operation so that the growers and consumers share risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme. The term CSA is mostly used in the USA, but a variety of similar production and economic sub-systems are in use worldwide.

In our case we have a share in the harvest of the organic/biodynamic Aardvlo farm on Amelisweerd estate, about 6 km (3.2 miles) from where we live. top

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E

ETA = Edited To Add : the post was edited with the following comment after publishing. top

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I

IMDb = Internet Movie Database : THE place to look up anything related to movies, directors, actors etc. top

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M

Mt. TBR / Mount TBR = Mount To Be Read : my pile of books waiting to be read top

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O

Ôbentō : the Japanese, more respectful name for bentō. top

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R

RABCK = Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness : this can take several forms, but the most common is when a bookcrosser sends a book to someone without asking for a trade or postage reimbursement. It’s just the act of doing something nice for another bookcrosser. top

Readalong (or read-along) : a project in which people read a bulky book (often classics) together, reporting about (in advance defined) parts along the way.

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T

TBR = To Be Read : book(s) waiting to be read. top

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V

Vegetarian : I am a lact-ovo vegetarian which means I do eat eggs and dairy. So everything called vegetarian on Graasland may contain these products and can therefor not be considered vegetarian in the strict sense! Go to Wikipedia for more information. top

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