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Subject:Re: Acronyms & Abbreviations--Just Say NO! From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 16 Jun 2003 12:58:07 -0400
Anthony Davey <ant -at- ant-davey -dot- com> wrote:
>
>While we're on the subject, and the heat makes it feel like a Friday (in
>southern England at least) could someone please demystify YMMV?
>
>
Ant,
<demystification>
During the administration of United States (US) President Jimmy Carter, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) successfully implemented a series of maneuvers that resulted in a gasoline (gas, petrol) shortage in the US. People waited in line for gasoline, were only able to purchase it on alternate days, and so forth.
As a result, the US Congress was able to pass legislation creating Corporate Average Fleet Economy (CAFE) standards to be enforced by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). These standards required that the average fuel economy for all automobiles sold by a given company in a given year be below some magic number that declined over time. In implementing the standards, the EPA began running tests (as they continue to do) that result in the placement of a sticker on the window of every new car sold, which sticker shows two numbers, city miles per gallon (mpg) and highway mpg.
Manufacturers, when they want to promote the relative economy of a small car, cite those numbers in their advertising; but because the tests are conducted under rigorous testing conditions, the numbers on the stickers tend to be lower (better) than the numbers real drivers get in cars they buy off the dealer's lot. So to protect their backsides from truth-in-advertising lawsuits, they always append the phrase, "your mileage may vary."
That's why the phrase is an American cliché and why it was adopted in that form.
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