The Mystery of Acronyms
(An excerpt from Translation 3000 Newsletter, January 2007)
What do NATO&LASER have in common with ICQ, DVD, SOS, and VISA?
The correct answer: They are all abbreviations.
Here is what they stand for:
UN (United Nations) are initials formed by using the first letters of each
word; also referred to as initialism;
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an acronym in its classic
sense. It is an abbreviation which is pronounced as a word.
Another example is LASER, which though not commonly known, is actually
an acronym. LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation.
SOS is a backronym. A backronym is a type of acronym
that begins as an ordinary word, and is later interpreted
as an acronym. SOS, the international panic signal, was chosen due
to its ease of transmission when using Morse code (...---...) but is often
understood to stand for phrases that had no role in its original conception.
Two of the most common variants are "Save Our Souls"; and "Save Our Ship".
ICQ (I Seek You) and IOU (I Owe You) are pseudo-acronyms-
when pronounced as intended, they resemble the sounds of other words.
VISA is recursive acronym — it is an abbreviation which refers
to itself in the expression for which it stands. VISA stands for
Visa International Service Association.
But do not worry — even possessing these secret knowledge about the various kinds
of these multi-letter species you can still refer to all of these
as acronyms:) The same way like BMX (Bicycle Moto-cross(X)) bike can still
be called a bike.... perhaps a bit extreme one:)
Interesting facts about acronyms and backronyms:
ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC is a United States Navy term that stands for
Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.
AC/DC a rock band name stands for Alternating
Current/Direct Current. The band's founders (Angus and Malcolm Young) saw the letters
on the back of a sewing machine; they thought that a name associated with
electricity suited their energetic style.
RSVP — Some think it to be Respond
So Very Promptly; actually it is Repondez S'il Vous Plait — French
for Respond if you please.
SAP — Originally System Analyse und
Programmentwicklung ("System Analysis and Program Development") in German, the name
of the configurable software package developed by SAP GmbH from 1971 onwards.
This has been backronymed by SAP Inc. into English as "Systems,
Applications and Products in data processing".
Acronyms are frequently re-interpreted by people
to give them other meaning, e.g: FAQ-Frequently Avoided Questions,
RAM-Rarely Adequate Memory.
Sciences and technologies advance the number of acronyms
and frequency of their use. Chat-rooms, e-mails and SMS gave birth to hundreds
of acronyms (like LOL — for "Laugh Out Loud", IMHO for "
In My Humble Opinion", or ROFL — Rolling on the Floor
Laughing).
So do not be surprised if one day you ever receive SMS with the following
text:
oibmc l
mirl by
ob!
bf4e!
it is simply a friend writing:
”Oops, I broke
my computer, let's
meet in real
life, bring your
own beer!
Best friends for
ever!”
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