Glossary

Executive Committee (ExCom)

Local Secretary (LocSec): Head Honcho, Big Cheese. The chief administrative officer and CFM's liaison with other local Mensa groups and American Mensa, Ltd. 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. Although many local groups call their chief executives something else, to the National Office they're all LocSecs.

Treasurer: maintains, distributes and is responsible for all funds of the group. A great person with whom to be friends.

Scribe: records all actions and minutes of the ExCom, reports the same to the membership via the group's newsletter, and records and maintains all standing motions of the ExCom. At an ExCom meeting, s/he is the one scribbling madly and asking everyone to repeat themselves s-l-o-w-l-y.

Member at Large: one or more members who have a vote on matters brought before the ExCom, with other duties as directed by the LocSec.

Appointed Positions:

Newsletter Editor: has overall responsibility of our publication, called The Flame, which must contain the calendar of events. The editor also has full responsibility for the appointment of assistants as may be required. The toughest, most fun, and definitely most rewarding job in Mensa.

Calendar Editor: Fields phone calls and emails regarding calendar events. Puts them all together and gets them to the Editor and webmaster (usually) on time. Altogether an underappreciated but most valuable job.

Gifted Children's Coordinator: Works with our younger (teen and pre-teen) members. Remember how isolated we all felt in school? This person can make the educational/adolescent experience a more positive one for future generations.

Membership: Handles the goings-on between the general membership of CFM and the ExCom and sometimes the National Office. Welcomes new members, keeps the records straight. Tries to remember birthdays and Mensanniversaries.

Entrance Exam / Proctor Coordinator: responsible for the administration of Mensa Entrance Exams in our area.

Scholarship: responsible for the awarding of CFM's yearly scholarship.

Webmaster: responsible for the publishing of our web pages (but of course you knew that).

S.I.G.H.T. : Stands for Service, Information, Guidance and Hospitality for Travelers. Provides info on our area for Mensans who visit from out of state or out of country.

Publicity: Makes sure to let the outside world know we exist. Sends info to our local TV and radio stations and newspapers about CFM events of interest to the community.

Area Coordinator: Since CFM is such a large group, geographically speaking, we have area coordinators who specialize in a sub-area, usually a county; e.g. Volusia, Osceola, and Lake.

Acronyms/Terms

AG - Annual Gathering. The AG is the national convention of AML (q.v), held for 5 days around the 4th of July each year, and the best party you'll ever go to. Other Mensa national groups also have AGs (American and Canadian Mensa shared a joint AG in 1988). See also RG.

AMC - American Mensa Committee, the ruling body of American Mensa. Consists of elected officers and several appointed officers.

AML - An abbreviation for "American Mensa, Ltd.," the official name of our society within the 50 states.

Colloquium - A gathering for serious thought, not just for fun. Created in response to complaints that gatherings have little intellectual content.

Coordinator - A loose term for a volunteer who does anything from acting as a telephone contact to organizing and hosting functions.

"Densan" - defined variously, as someone with an I.Q. in the bottom two percent, someone with an I.Q. score in the 97th percentile or lower, or (most often) a Mensan acting like a fool or a jerk. Often accompanied by shouts of "Re-test!" (q.v)

ExComm - Executive Committee (see above).

Feghoot - A shaggy-dog type joke with a pun as the punch line; for example, "Pardon me, Roy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoes?"

IBD - International Board of Directors (capi di tutti capi).

InterLoc - A newsletter published mainly for Local Secretaries, reporting on the business of AMC and the national office. Any member may subscribe free of charge; see The Mensa Bulletin for the address.

Isolated M - A newsletter for Mensans who can't participate in local group activities.

Local Group - Most Mensans are assigned to one of more than 100 local groups, based on geography. A local group can be compact and populous (New York City, for example) or widespread and sparse (some states such as North Dakota have only one local group for the entire state).

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. Can often be taken to the extreme in personal ads; e.g. SBCFM (single Black Christian Female Mensan), MWJMM (Married White Jewish Male Mensan), DOPTM (Divorced Oriental Pagan Transgendered Mensan), etc.

MERF - Mensa Educational Research Foundation. This title has now been replaced with "The Mensa Foundation."

"National" - Nationwide level of American Mensa. Often used as verbal shorthand for the AMC, AML, or the National Office in Arlington, TX.

Newsletter - Each local group receives a subsidy from National to publish a monthly calendar of events and reports of Mensa business. Most groups publish a more extensive newsletter, including articles, advertising, and letters. See also Newsletter Editor (q.v.).

NomComm - Nominating Committee. Also NomElComm, for Nominations and Elections Committee.

Ombudsman - A trouble-shooter who listens to gripes, settles complaints, and generally pours oil on troubled waters.

Owl - Okay, you know what an owl is. Because the owl was sacred to Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, it has become the unofficial mascot of Mensa, and when you get active in Mensa you'll see lots of them. Over the years other unofficial mascots have included pelicans, unicorns, Opus the penguin, and doubtless other things--but the owl is pretty solidly entrenched.

Region 10 - The region of American Mensa to which CFM belongs. It is, simply, the great and sovereign state of Florida. Historical note: we used to be in Region 5, the Southeastern region, but Region 10 was formed because Florida itself had more local groups than any other state in Region 5, and more than some other regions in their entirety!

"Retest!" - An interjection often heard when a Mensan does or says something not quite on a par with his/her supposed intelligence. See also "Densan."

RG - Regional Gathering. The second best party, after an AG (q.v.), that you'll ever go to! 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, and local host groups bargain 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 Mensans and family members. CFM's RG is usually held in late January/early February every year. Lately, the theme has been "Smarti Gras."

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. Our present RVC is Maggie Truelove.

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. Various SIGs include Quilting, Monty Python, Darts, SCUBA and Heavy Metal Music.

(The Webmaster acknowledges Metro Washington Mensa's Webmaster, Bud Stolker, for his unknowing contribution of much of the information.)

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