"If the writer is so lax as to use these abbreviations without alluding to their meanings then I don't think that they are a particularly good writer!"

I disagree, Kampervan. People use initialisms all the time, and the author was after verisimilitude. Besides, it gives the chance to start fun threads like this one.

I appreciate it that nobody trotted out that tired old remark about the British and Americans being separated by a common language.