using sog

huangyhg

using sog
there is a concern at our company about using the abbreviation of sog for slab on grade.  is there any reason not to use it, legally or in the effort to reduce confusion?
do you have an abbreviations page or section within your drawings?  that can be used to apply to things like this.
we do have a abbreviation list we stick on our drawings.  our main cad manager mentioned he might be getting rid of the sog, he cant recall but re  
no offense to your cad manager, but i would think that having a definition clearly indicated on the plans would not be a source of trouble.  
just to make sure, you could put a big note on the plans like this:
sog means concrete slab-on-grade.  see the notes and details pertaining to its requirements and construction.  if you don't know what an sog is after all this, either you are an idiot or a ccc* or both.
*completely clueless contractor

i was once reviewing a set of drawings... i forget the exact circumstances, but the confusion of abbreviations went something like this:
t.o. = top of
t.o.s = top of steel
long story short there were some drawings which made the "t.o.s" elevation "appear" to be the top of slabfff"> elevation... the drawings were labeled properly but this still lead to much confusion... i have seen tos mean either top of steel or top of slab.
so, for clarity purposes that may be something to be aware of, but i can't think of an acronym with sog which would cause legal troubles

i always thought that t.o.s. meant "totally over-designed structure"....at least that's what my architect clients tell me.

tell them the only thing that gets totally over-designed but totally under-detailed is the architecture.
jae, you're in rare form today!  i loved the ccc thing.  as a federal government puke, we try to use abbreviations as little as possible.  those that we do use are found on a legend sheet.  we use the united states national cad standards (usncs) for all projects.  although sog is common in the industry, it is not included in the accepted list within the usncs.
for top of slab, i use t.o.c. for top of concrete (not to be confused with table of contents).  t.o.c. is used whether it is on slab-on-grade or top of concrete filled deck.
provided that sog is defined in the list of abbreviations and no other disciplines defines sog as something else on their drawings, i do not see any "legal" reasons to not use it.
i have not reviewed the usncs abbreviations list but i expect the list to be partial at best.  there are no legal reasons to restrict yourself to the usncs list.
the use of abbreviations are acceptable on plan drawings where there are many repetitions.  on detail call-outs, notes or full sentences, i do not use any abbreviations.
vmirat-
do you know why sog isnt on the usncs list?
bd9607,
it has guidelines for developing abbreviations.  here's the list:
the terms included in this module were selected using the following criteria:
- the term has six or more letters. terms with five letters or fewer should not be abbreviated.
however, certain commonly used terms (such as "build" and "center") have been included.
- trade association acronyms, such as ul, astm, and nfpa, have been included if the organization publishes standards likely to be referenced on drawings.
- common english language terms have not been included. some examples are "afternoon"(pm) and "central standard time" (cst).
- abbreviations representing professional licenses, certifications, or