There is a rather easy solution to the abbreviation problem, namely software.
Using a text editor such as emacs allows you to define abbreviations which
when typed are automatically expanded into their longer (unabbreviated) form.
One could also devise a software filter which could take the message text
file and expand the abbreviations into their full form before sending as
email.

Mark Albright<marka at atmos.washington.edu>
Atmospheric Sciences
University of Washington