ii: TLAs, PDQ! (Reader Comments and Addenda)

I had already mentioned Roy G. Biv in another column. Oops. I ought to check the index before writing. Maybe I need a mnemonic for remembering what I've written about.

Pierre Abbat mentions a recursive acronym he's seen on bumper stickers: "BASS, which stands for Bass Anglers Sportsman Society."

Several people wrote in to fill in blanks in Joe Marriott's initialisms table. Darren notes that "10C (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition) lists a number of abbreviations in a special section near the back of the book," from which he provided several additions to the table. He asked what MTBF means—it's Mean Time Between Failures—and suggested an alternate, MEGO, for My Eyes Glaze Over, which I was tickled by because I came up with the same acronym back in college. He provided lots of further items for this table which I haven't included yet mostly because I haven't heard of 'em; will likely fill them in soon.

A AM ABA AARP ASPCA
B BO BBB BMOC
C CD CIA CCCP COMEX
D DT DAR DTMF DARPA (DR)
E ER ETA ESPN EPROM
F FM FBI FDIC
G GE GNP GATT
H HO HMS HDTV
I IV IRS IEEE
J JB JFK JPEG (DF)
K KO KFC (PA) KAOS
L LP LED LAPD LMNOP
M MD MTA MTBF MASER (PA)
N NG NBA NRBQ NAACP
O OK OED OPEC
P PU PDQ PROM (PA) PFLAG (DF)
Q QT QED QBVII
R RV ROM RTFM RADAR
S SJ SRO SPQR SONAR
T TB TBD TGIF
U UV UHF USMC
V VA VHS VSOP
W WB WPA WWWF
X XL XYZ XTRA
Y YA (DF) YMCA
Z ZPG

PA is Pierre Abbat; DR is Darren Rigby; DF is Danny Fahs; Bh is Bhadrika. Alternates mentioned include: EEPROM (PA) (won't fit in table), KGB (DF/Bh), PSAT (Bh), GMAT (Bh).

Will Doak forwards a recursive acronym from Dilbert: The TTP Project. He also mentions TMC, "The MicroStation Community," and says he often sees references to "the TMC," although not (yet) to "the TMC community." Which reminds me of phrases like "PIN number" and "automatic ATM machine." I think I've seen an extensive list of such phrases somewhere online, but am too sleepy right now to dig it up... Perhaps in a future column.


(Last updated: 17 March 1998)


Back to column ii

Join the Conversation