A Confusion of Acronyms
Posted: Monday, December 15, 2008
by Dianne Lehmann
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Certainly acronyms and initializations have become common place in our language. I believe their proliferation is mostly due to the military (AWOL or Away Without Official Leave). There was and is a need, at times, to speed up communication. So if you can say, "Get on the SONAR and see what is out there," instead of "Get on the Sound Navigation and Ranging device and see what is out there", you will get your point across much more rapidly. If a torpedo is heading for your submarine, you would want to know as soon as possible.
SCUBA or Self- Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
SNAFU or Situation Normal: All Fouled Up (I know what you are thinking.)
It should be noted that sometimes a word, as in "through" in LASER, must be left out to make the acronym make sense and become easier to say. Also sometimes, a letter or two will be added for the same purpose.
Acronyms should not be confused with initialisms (which should not be confused with abbreviations) such as CEO ( Chief Executive Officer), which is not pronounced "see-o", but rather each letter is said individually. Initialisms are not words. One initialism that I believe should not be used is PC. Political Correctness or Personal Computer can easily be confused one for the other and the reason is PC ( Perfectly Clear).
There is another interesting (well okay, perhaps only to me) facet to the English language called "Terms of Venery." This refers to words for groups of animals and the words are very specific to the animal. For example: a pride of lions, a sloth of bears or a murder of crows. These terms of venery were originally developed by English Upper Classes to further separate themselves from the commoners. Only the well educated would have been taught these abstruse designations. To further confuse the issue, it was decided that terms of venery would not only be animal specific, but condition specific as well. So, a gaggle of geese only refers to the lot of them when they are on the ground. In flight they are a skein of geese.
I should like to propose that when several acronyms are used in the course of one complete statement that the term of venery for such be "a confusion of acronyms." Mainly because, it seems to me, that is all that it produces.
One could for example say, "TANSTAAFL but EGBOK anyway," which would mean, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch but everything's going to be okay anyway." Note that in EGBOK, the word "to" has been left out to make it easier to say. The acronym TANSTAAFL, which most commonly is pronounced something like "tanstawful," was coined by the author Larry Niven, if memory serves me.
I have noticed that some acronyms (at least supposed acronyms) would seem to have little to do with the actual subject. Take for example the acronyms we employ to indicate animals of the feline or canine type. Whoever came up with these surely got them backwards. CAT ( Chase After Tail) and DOG ( Dump on Goofy) would each seem to be better suited to the other. The first is obvious, the second is not so. But it has been explained this way: Goofy is the term applied to any canine silly enough to associate with felines as the felines are always taking advantage of them. Case in point, the relationship between Garfield and Odie.
And now that I have brought it up, here is a thing I have never understood. Disney's Goofy, while apparently a canine, walks upright, wears clothing and talks. While Pluto, Goofy's pet, also a canine, walks on all fours, does not wear clothing and has a vocabulary limited to "ARF" and "WOOF." Which as we all know stands for " A Real Friend Would Often Offer Food."
In closing I should like to offer an acronym I have just now myself coined: MoCTATAGoN. It should be noted that the initial letter to the words "and" and "a" have been left out and two letters "o" have been added to make it easier to say. Hint: it is the last line in a well known yuletide poem.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Dianne, now that IATC, I have to say how much I enjoyed this piece. You are quite clever.IATC pronounced I-A-T-C stands for I am thoroughly confused :-)Thanks for the smile, I certainly needed it! Love, TeresaHi Teresa.I was confused when I wrote it. I thought I was writing about something else. ;-)Thanks.Love,Dianne
MoCTATAGoN to you too, Diane! LOL piece. IDK when I've read a funnier one. OMG it was great! TTYL, JeanHi Jean.Thanks!I wondered if I should also have covered the whole text messaging thing.Glad you liked it.Dianne
hi dianne,this was very interesting, and clever. fun to read. the english language is definitely strange, i think. there are times where i look at a sentence that have the same words, that mean to different things in them. such as "There, now you're done, go over there and play."thanks for sharing,best regards,sueHi Sue.I think what makes the English language interesting and strange is just that; so many words with multiple meanings. The 'oddnesses' in our language have inspired me to write a couple of short stories. I am waiting for word from a publisher before deciding what else I might do with them. One is short enough to possibly submit to SearchWarp.Thanks for slogging your way through it.Hugs,Dianne
Dear Dianne,
What a clever article. How in the world could you write keeping it all clear? It was fun, entertaining and educational to read!! Thank you!
Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, too!
Hugs,
AvisHi Avis.This one came to me in the middle of the night. I got out my book light and made notes, but in the morning they hardly made sense to me anymore. Luckily, it sort of seemed to write itself.Thanks for the kudos.MoCToYTOO + Hugs,Dianne
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