Originally Posted by alaxfire

To me, a 'short' means power / signal to ground and something is gonna smoke if it's power and the fuse/circuit breaker does not pop.
( It does not necessarily have to be ground, could be with another wire in a bundle )

An 'open' means that the power / signal is not getting from point A to point B like it should.

The term 'intermittent' can apply to either.