h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Acronyms - A696828
Author: Just zis Guy, you know? [welcome to the H2G2 cycle club at A690572] - U54363

I wanted to clear up the misconception that TLA is a Three Letter Acronym.

As a pedant, I thoroughly aplaud this.

The UK's science funding body will not accept proposals without an acronym? Is this true? Since when?

What does the 'G' in GNU stand for?

Yes, I have it on good authority that an acronym is required.

And the G stands for GNU - hence recursive TLA!

I think Peet might as well.

Most of those nonpronounceable "acronyms" are initialisms: each letter is a first letter of the spelled-out phrase.

You might also consider adding that in Britain, acronyms are often written as if they are proper nouns, not initialisms (e.g., Nato, Norad, vs. BBC), whereas in North America, non-acronym initialisms and acronyms are spelled in all-capital letters (e.g., NATO, NORAD). I don't know what other languages do with their acronyms/initialisms.

This is a good entry, but it needs straightening out a little.

You seem to make the point that an Acronym must be pronounceable a few different places, for example in a section entitle TLA's, but you should really make this the central point of the entry. You should illustrate it with common abbreviations (PC, BBC, etc) vs acronyms (RAM, NATO, etc.)

I have never heard that TLA stood for Three Letter Acronym, it was always Three Letter Abbreviation.

I can't make out what you mean by Extended TLAs. Are they just abbreviations or does the term actually mean something?

I was always taught to pronounce EBCDIC as ebb-suh-dick.

I've heard the term "backronym" for a phrase which is invented to fit the Acronym rather than the other way around. I've always suspected that BASIC is in fact a backronym. The programming language was called BASIC because it was basic.

Thanks for dredging the word "backronym" from the back of my mind where it has been lurking for a week occasionally taunting me.

As for the rest, well I think I'll not change much. It's my style and it's seen me through over three dozen edited entries.

The first place I ever heard of the phrase "TLA" it was in reference to NASA (now *that's* an acronym) and the confusing attachment they had to TLAs (e.g. LEM, CSM, EVA - Lunar Excursion Module, Command and Service Module, Extravehicular Activity, etc. ad nauseam). Not sure if it actually originated with NASA, however - TLA sounds like the sort of humour the military would come up with...

Good entry, btw...

H.

Thank you - and may I say, that's a particulalry intelligent shade of the colour blue.

Hi, that's a fun article. I submit that SONAR is SOund Navigation And Ranging, or as some see it, SOund NAvigation Ranging. The preponderance of opinions from a web search agree with this. Better to find another one that means nothing.

SONAR may be a backronym, though.

Thank you

MD

Man manly man man,

I disagree! This is not just your style. I've read many of your other entries and they are very straightforward. This one isn't. I suggest you re-read it for content rather than style and see exactly what it is saying and where. You'll find it can be re-ordered better to make the point you want to make more clearly. If after having done this you still want to leave it as it is, then so be it. It's your entry!

This is a true RGE (really great entry) and IMHO deserves to be an EGE.... some of my favorite acronyms are missing, and rightly so... SNAFU and FUBAR are fun, but explaining what they stand for would cause a bit of controvery.... TLAs have become the "standard" format also for companies in the computer industry, with these corporations often deriving their name just to be a snappy TLA... one example I used to work for, UDC (universal data consulting).... and they have even permeated the music industry with such things as STP, GNR, and the Notorious BIG...

Love this one....consider it recomended

H.A.

Well written article: I enjoyed it. However, TWAIN stands for Technology Without An Important Name. Or at least it did when I used it.

I really like this entry - it does get confusing towards the middle (especially the ETLA bit), but then, it is late at night and I'm just about unconcious...maybe I'll try again tomorrow

Would be great to see SNAFU and FUBAR in there, or maybe a link to a page with a list of acronyms?

Something else you could mention is the scene from 'Good Morning Vietnam' where Robin Williams goes crazy with acronyms...no...they're abbreviations....argh!! Thanks for enlightening us about the TLA's!

yeah, trying to cover a list of common acronyms would be an awesome project, i think a link would be advisable

Technology without an interesting name seems to be the consensus, although there are plenty of variants (e.g Thing without etc. ). This is the definition in the online dictionary of abbreviations and geek-speak, so I'll run with it I think.

The link is in there: FOLDOC

I wanna recommend it, but I'm not allowed to.