Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: Difference between revisions

For example, ffif you have visited online gaming communities, you've likely [[Seen It a Million Times]]. You simply [[That One Boss|cannot defeat]] the [[Big Bad|BBEG]], so you use [[The Internet|the 'tubes]] to find a FAQ for how to get to the [[Peninsula of Power Leveling|PoPL]] so you can [[Level Grinding|LG]] your [[Magikarp Power|MP]] to godly levels and [[Curb Stomp Battle|mess him up]]. And the FAQ is composed entirely of shorthand, rendering it illegible.

Not to be confused with [[Fun Withwith Acronyms]], because that trope is about acronyms that are humorous rather than accurate, as opposed to simply having too many acronyms to remember, or acronyms that you'd have to be an insider of the community to know.

When writers include an overload of acronyms, they usually do so in the hope that you'll end up R.O.T.F.L.O.L.Y.F.A.O.O.L. Occasionally they'll thrown in some acronyms that refer to [[Deadly Euphemism|Deadly Euphemisms]]s along with more benign euphemisms in the hopes that you'll do a mental [[Double Take]] and think [[Big OMG|O.M.F.G.]]!

{{quote| '''Adrian Cronauer:''' Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.<ref> Translation: Seeing as the Vice President is a Very Important Person, shouldn't we keep information about the Press Conference confidential? Because if it leaks to the Viet Cong he could end up Missing In Action, and then we'd all be put to work in the kitchens, or worse.</ref>}}

* In ''[[Film/Renaissance Man|Renaissance Man]]'', Danny DeVito's character, who is teaching a class at a military base, is first very confused when a serviceman gives him directions like this. Later in the movie, once he's gotten used to being on the base, the situation is reversed when a civilian asks him for directions and he gives the same acronym-filled one he received earlier.

* In the opening scenes of ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949) -- one of the earliest American films to address this trope -- Frenchtrope—French army captain Henri Rochard ([[Cary Grant]]) approaches the guard post at an Allied armed forces office building in post-war Germany. He asks the guard for directions to the "OICAMGWAC". (Being Cary Grant, [[Verbal Tic|he reads it rhythmically and deliberately]] so it sounds like "O.I.C. - A.M.G. - W.A.C.") Directed to the first floor, he finds office doors labeled "WAIRCO" (which he reads as "War Administration Industrial Relations Coordinator's Office") and "SOSDPPDD" ("Service of Supplies Displaced Persons Property Disposal Department") before finding the ladies restroom. He begins to misinterpret this as "Labor Administration Department Inter..." when a WAC ([http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Women%27s_Army_Corps's Army Corps|Women's Army Corps]]) tech corporal exits. She directs him across the hall to yet another door labeled "CDMTWR". The meanings of the first and last acronyms are not explained.

== L.T.T.R.[[Literature|Lit]] ==

* The team of ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' wizards who work on [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|Hex]] do this a bunch -- Hexbunch—Hex is a computer [[Bamboo Technology|made out of an ant farm and some common household implements]], including an FTB (fuzzy teddy bear), a CWL (clothes wringer from the laundry), and the like. A number of these acronyms are references to real-life ones, generally from computing (such as "FTB", a play on "[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:FTP |FTP]]", an Internet protocol).

{{quote| '''Boss''': "What was your contribution to the project?"<br />

'''You''': "Mostly QA. I was also an SME for the BUs."<br />

== [[Live-Action TV|L.A.T.VTV]] ==

{{quote| ''John Cleese:'' Gentlemen, our MP saw the PM this AM and the PM wants more LSD from the PIB by tomorrow AM or PM at the latest. I told the PM's PPS that AM was NBG so tomorrow PM it is for the PM nem. con.}}

* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'': At one point Del Boy insists that "Modern businesspeople only speak in initials!" He initializes everything -- exampleseverything—examples include the GLC: "General 'Lectric Company" and PMA: "Positive Mental Attitude". He also tries to initialize "'''T'''rotter's '''I'''ndependent '''T'''rader's" and Rodney's "'''D'''iploma '''I'''n '''C'''omputerization", the results of which are duly [[Lampshaded|pointed out]].

== N[[Music|M.PS.C.M. ]] ==

== [[Newspaper TComics|N.BP.TC.GS.]] ==

== [[Theatre|T.H.T.]] ==

* ''[[Hair (Theatretheatre)|HairTheatre]]'' uses a lot of acronyms in the lyrics of "Hashish" and "Initials." Appearing in both are "L.S.D." and [[New York Subway|"I.R.T."]]

* ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'': (SSB) guides will have all kinds of acronyms, sometimes making the simplest things hard to read; for instance, DI, or Directional Influence; your ability to move left or right a little bit in midair, etc.

* ''[[Dwarf Fortress (Video Game)|Dwarf Fortress]]'': [[Invoked Trope|Done deliberately]] by the DF community; talk of the [[Giant Spider|GCS]] and the [[Dug Too Deep|HFS]] prevents spoilers. Also overlaps with [[Insistent Terminology]].

* ''[[NethackNetHack]]'': The IRC channel often combines this with the in-game symbols used to represent the various items; so a late game ascension kit might contain (among other things) [oMR, "oLS, a cursed !oGL and plenty of /oD.

* The [[Game FAQsGameFAQs]] ''Naruto'' boards has JnJ, PnJ, ET, SST, CT, FRS, 0TK, 3TK, 4TK, 8TK, nTK, MS, EMS...

* ''[[MegamanMega Man Battle Network]]'': [[In -Universe]], actually. Mostly to preserve memory space, but also has a nice futuristic look.

* ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'': Most of the Goliath's [[Stop Poking Me]] quotes. The Goliath in Starcraft II has many quotes reused, but also has the previous quote from G''oodMorningVietnam''.

{{quote| '''Goliath:''' Go ahead, TACCOM. Milspec [[Robo CopRoboCop|ED 209]] on. USDA selected. FDIC approved. Checklist complete... SOB.}}

* The [[Web Game]] ''[[Sryth]]'' has a lot of acronims, most of them fan-made. There's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20190613221713/http://www.srythforumsryth.com/showthread.php?t=1314 forum thread] that provides a complete list.

== [[Web W.BComics|WWW.C.MS. ]] ==

== [[Western W.S.TAnimation|Wst.A.N.M. ]] ==

* Laptop computers used to use a type of expansion slot known as PCMCIA, an acronym for the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, the group of companies that got together to develop the hardware standard. Owing to what a mouthful the acronym was (not to mention how non-descriptive it proved to be once you bothered to unroll it), the acronym is jokingly said to mean "'''[[Fun Withwith Acronyms|'''P]]'''[[Fun With Acronyms|eople]] '''[[Fun With Acronyms|C]]'''[[Fun With Acronyms|an't]] '''[[Fun With Acronyms|M]]'''[[Fun With Acronyms|emorize]] '''[[Fun With Acronyms|C]]'''[[Fun With Acronyms|omputer]] '''[[Fun With Acronyms|I]]'''[[Fun With Acronyms|ndustry]] '''[[Fun With Acronyms|A]]'''[[Fun With Acronyms|cronyms]]".<br /><br />The name was eventually changed to the much shorter "PC Card", before the format was replaced entirely by Express Card.

* In Chemistrychemistry, abbreviation is necessary to use the completely-descriptive but incredibly long formal names of most chemicals. Or they're simply referred to by some kind of informal or brand name. At the extreme end of this scale is [https://web.archive.org/web/20131028203952/http://othyr.com/titin.html Titin], the largest known protein, which has an ''incredibly'' lengthy chemical name.

* Many [[Mormonism|Mormons]] know what RM, BYU, PEC, BYC, YM, YW, and many others mean.

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