Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: Difference between revisions
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Fan communities create their own acronyms and abbreviations, to make it easier to speak about the works they love. An AaAO is when this is taken so far that it is downright confusing.
For example,
When used in media (as opposed to being used in [[Fan Communities|talking about media]]), it tends to feature in an [[Expospeak Gag]] or aiding the resident [[Motor Mouth]]. Or both.
Not to be confused with [[Fun
When writers include an overload of acronyms, they usually do so in the hope that you'll end up R.O.T.F
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== F.L.M. ==▼
== [[Fan Works|F.W.]] ==
{{quote|
'''Dojima''': Shut UP, Adachi. }}▼
* From ''[[Good Morning Vietnam]]'':
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* In the opening scenes of ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949) -- one of the earliest American films to address this
==
▲* The ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' fandom is fond of this. Acronyms include:
** the series titles (TNP, TPOT, OOTS)
** book titles (TDH, FQ, BP, NW, BotC, T4A, SotC, to name a few... This created a slight issue when ''Code of the Clans'' came along, because there was already a CotC from ''Cats of the Clans''. There were even forum threads debating on what to call it - the most common form is C2otC.)
** some characters, places, etc (HF, DF, PoNS)
** related websites (Ww, OF)
* The team of ''[[
* ''[[The Dilbert Principle]]'' advises employees to use lots of acronyms in describing their accomplishments because "they sound impressive while conveying no information":
{{quote|
'''You''': "Mostly QA. I was also an SME for the BUs."
'''Boss''': "Um... okay. Excellent work." }}
== [[Live-Action TV|L.A.
* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'': An MPFC LP had this as the basis for a sketch IIRC.
{{quote|
* The dialogue in ''[[The Sandbaggers]]'' uses so many acronyms that the DVDs have an acronym glossary as a bonus feature.
* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'': At one point Del Boy insists that "Modern businesspeople only speak in initials!" He initializes
* [[Invoked]] by Colonel Flagg on ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'':
{{quote|I'm with the CIA, but I tell people I'm with the CIC, so they think I'm with the CID.}}
==
*
* A ''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]'' strip tries to abuse this when the engineers try to deceive the pointy-haired boss by making up lots of acronyms.▼
* [[Wikipedia]] has several lists of acronyms. '''Be forewarned:''' A person can easily get lost on a [[Wiki Walk]] through these pages. Good starting points include:▼
** [
** [
** [
** [
== [[Newspaper
▲* A ''[[
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'': DND tends to suffer from this, because of the number of precise terms; AC, DR, CL (this one's even context-sensitive), DC, etc. etc. Oddly enough, there's no way to abbreviate "Denied your dex bonus to AC" any further.▼
* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]: [[Dawn of War]]'' wiki has many acronyms made up by players. The Dakkadakka Forum even has tooltips for the most commonly used initialisms.▼
* And if you think that's bad, you should see ''[[Exalted]]''. Acronyms like [[Game Breaker|VAP]]<ref>Void Avatar Prana</ref>, PoCB<ref>Protection of Celestial Bliss</ref>, SSE<ref>Seven Shadow Evasion</ref>, GSNF<ref>Green Sun Nimbus Flare</ref> and SCS<ref>Solar Circle Sorcery</ref> are all thrown around. ''Exalted'' terminology is so flowery that typing all the Charms out in full could take weeks.▼
== [[Tabletop Games|T.B.T.G.]] ==
▲* ''[[Dungeons
▲* ''[[Warhammer
▲* And if you think that's bad, you should see ''[[Exalted]]''. Acronyms like [[Game Breaker|VAP]],<ref>Void Avatar Prana</ref>
==
* The song "Arse End of the Earth" from ''Keating! The Musical''.
* ''[[Hair (
== [[Video Games|V.D.G.M.]] ==
* ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery]]'': (ADOM) The guidebook has all kinds of abbreviations that make it downright illegible unless you read the compiled list of acronyms and abbreviations. One of the biggest offenders is the [[Infinity
▲== V.D.G.M. ==
* ''[[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.▼
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery]]'': (ADOM) The guidebook has all kinds of abbreviations that make it downright illegible unless you read the compiled list of acronyms and abbreviations. One of the biggest offenders is the [[Infinity Plus One Sword|TotRR]].
* ''[[
▲* ''[[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.
* The [[
▲* ''[[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]].
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Nethack]]'': 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 FAQs]] ''Naruto'' boards has JnJ, PnJ, ET, SST, CT, FRS, 0TK, 3TK, 4TK, 8TK, nTK, MS, EMS...
▲* ''[[Megaman Battle Network]]'': [[In Universe]], actually. Mostly to preserve memory space, but also has a nice futuristic look.
** Its [[Spiritual Successor]] series, ''[[Mega Man Star Force|Starforce]]'', does this on the [[Nintendo DS]], [[Rule of Cool|simply for the latter reason]]. It also forces this on the player, due to little paragraph space for the parts you have to write yourself, such as naming your "Best Combos".
* ''[[
{{quote|
* The ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'' community has a lot of this. HttT, TSG, AoI, SoF, THoT, DA, HI, WM, ZoC, CtH, HAPMA... almost all campaigns, units and gameplay elements are abbreviated, [http://wiki.wesnoth.org/Wesnoth_Acronyms_and_Slang see also here].
* The ''[[Rock Band]]'' fan comunity reduces song names to acronyms, such as GGaHT (that's Green Grass and High Tides).
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has its own horde of acronyms and abbreviations, Dal, Org, TB, Oc, pat, spriest, Demolock, ToT, ToC, LF5MDPS, H25LK, TG vs SMF... to the point that some instances had similar acronyms that one of them had to be acronymed after its final boss. DM (Dire Maul) and VC (Deadmines, after the last boss). [http://www.wowpedia.org/Acronyms More information here]
* 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.
== [[Web
* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' from ''[[
* ''[[Terminal Lance]]'': is drawn by a Marine, for Marines. Non-Marines are strongly advised to have the [[The Other Wiki|Wikipedia]] page on [
== [[Web Original|WWW.O.]] ==
▲* Ryotaro Dojima, from [[Peachi]]'s [[Persona 4 (Video Game)|Persona 4]] comic:
* Old [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/T/TLA.html hacker anecdote] found in the ''[[Jargon File]]'': When asked what "the biggest problem in computing in the '90s" would be, one hacker is said to have quipped, "there are only 17,000 three-letter acronyms". When you have [[Fun
▲{{quote| '''Ryotaro Dojima''': We've got no clues about the perp. We don't even have a sus because the sec with a mo's got a perf al.<br />
** The [[Jargon File]] itself has more than its share among its entries, including less-than-complimentary terms for stupid users like "PEBCAK" ("Problem exists between chair and keyboard").
▲'''Adachi''': Sir, what are you even-<br />
* Invoked to confuse the boss in [https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/09/bofh_2022_episode_17/ this edition] of ''[[BOFH]]''.
▲'''Dojima''': Shut UP, Adachi. }}
▲* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' from ''[[Problem Sleuth (Webcomic)|Problem Sleuth]]'' onwards, so much that the wiki has an [http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Acronym_Cheatsheet Acronym Cheatsheet].
▲* ''[[Terminal Lance]]'': is drawn by a Marine, for Marines. Non-Marines are strongly advised to have the [[The Other Wiki|Wikipedia]] page on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Marine_Corps_acronyms_and_expressions USMC acronyms and expressions] open and ready for reference.
== [[Western
* In one episode of ''[[
{{quote|
== [[Real Life|R.L.L.F.]] ==▼
▲* In one episode of [[Yogis Treasure Hunt]], [[Top Cat]] calls the treasure hunters this way:
*
▲{{quote| '''Top Cat''': Attention! This is T.C. calling with an A.P.B.. Report to the treasure room A.S.A.P..}}
** Similarly, ATT and TVT to refer to [[All The Tropes|this wiki]] and [[The Other Tropes Wiki]], respectively.
** As of 2018, the admins here would prefer to make this a [[Defied Trope]]. After all, there are only so many TLAs<ref name=TLA>[[:Category:TLA|Three Letter Abbreviations]]</ref> to go around and thus some of them have multiple meanings here; we'd rather be informative than cute.
▲== R.L.L.F. ==
* [[Truth in Television]]: The United States armed forces do this, to the point where two members of the same branch (say an artilleryman and a tanker, both Army) can't understand each other. Much worse if it's members of two different branches. "Private Bob! Gimme a SITREP on the PMCS of that APC ASAP!".▼
** A lot of personnel use this for [[Fun
▲* Tv Tropes Wiki itself. Those new to the community might have to have [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMoA's]], [[Home Page/YMMV|YMMV]], and YKTTW explained to them.
** It is said (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) that the American armed forces run on TLAs,<ref
▲* [[Truth in Television]]: The United States armed forces do this, to the point where two members of the same branch (say an artilleryman and a tanker, both Army) can't understand each other. Much worse if it's members of two different branches.
▲** A lot of personnel use this for [[Fun With Acronyms]]. A radar operator might call in "An unidentified B-1-R-Delta (bird) possible hostile G-U-Eleven (gull) class" Or a technician might report an "ID-ten-T (id10t) user error" or "Equipment inoperable in O-F-F Mode"
▲** It is said (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) that the American armed forces run on TLAs<ref>Three-Letter Acronyms</ref>, ETLAs<ref>Extended Three-Letter Acronyms</ref>, and MTTLAs<ref>More-Than-Three-Letter Acronyms</ref>.
* Civilian aviation inherited this from the military for the same reason they us it: brevity is important over crowded radio channels and there are lot of technical terms in use. For example: "I'm gonna study the SOP, refer to the FAR/AIM and the POH, then go up and practice an ILS, VOR, NDB and GPS approach out of EVB. Oh, not GPS, cause RAIM is inop."
** Or: "I am going to study the standard operating procedure, refer to the federal air regulations aeronautical information manual and the pilots operating handbook, then go up and practice an instrument landing system, very high frequency omnidirectional range, non directional beacon and global positioning system approach out of New Smyrna Beach municipal airport. Oh, not global positioning system, because the receiver autonomous integrity monitoring is inoperable." Suddenly the acronyms seem godsend instead of an annoyance.
* 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 "
:The name was eventually changed to the much shorter "PC Card", before the format was replaced entirely by Express Card.
▲* Old [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/T/TLA.html hacker anecdote]: When asked what "the biggest problem in computing in the '90s" would be, one hacker is said to have quipped, "there are only 17,000 three-letter acronyms". When you have [[Fun With Acronyms|joke acronyms]] [[Hypocritical Humor|bemoaning the plethora of acronyms]] in your profession, it's pretty bad.
▲* There's an old song by [[Allan Sherman]] ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roAWodrsZXI Harvey and Sheila]'' that celebrates the acronyms of life in the USA.
* Anybody who studies biology for long enough, particularly metabolism or genetics, quickly finds the acronyms getting out of hand. We have acronyms made of acronyms.
* In
* Many [[Mormonism|Mormons]] know what RM, BYU, PEC, BYC, YM, YW, and many others mean.
* When the Short Message Service was first popular, the combination of a 160-chr<ref>character</ref> limit, charge per txt and limited kbd<ref>keyboard</ref> led to [[w:SMS language|a lot of abbreviations]]. Many of these were actually inherited from former telegraph operators (who would send abbreviated messages to each other in between official communications) and other Morse users (who found full sentences just TLTT<ref>too long to type</ref>).
▲* [[Wikipedia]] has several lists of acronyms. '''Be forewarned:''' A person can easily get lost on a [[Wiki Walk]] through these pages. Good starting points include:
▲** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialism Their main article on acronyms and initialism]
▲** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acronyms Their list of acronyms and initialism]
▲** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_and_military_acronyms Their list of U.S. government and military acronyms]
▲** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_initialism Their article on orphan initialism]
----
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon]]
[[Category:Language Tropes]]
[[Category:Acronym
[[Category:
|