Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: Difference between revisions

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.

 

 

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 with 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.

 

 

 

* From ''[[Good Morning Vietnam]]'':

{{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 the opening scenes of ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949) -- one of the earliest American films to address this trope—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 ([[wikipedia:Women'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.

 

* The ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' fandom is fond of this. Acronyms include:

** the series titles (TNP, TPOT, OOTS)

'''Boss''': "Um... okay. Excellent work." }}

 

* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'': An MPFC LP had this as the basis for a sketch IIRC.

{{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.}}

* 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 everything—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]].

 

 

* A ''[[Dilbert]]'' strip tries to abuse this when the engineers try to deceive the pointy-haired boss by making up lots of acronyms.

 

* ''[[Dungeons & 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 40,000]]: [[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.

 

* The song "Arse End of the Earth" from ''Keating! The Musical''.

 

* ''[[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+1 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.

* ''[[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]].

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

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

* 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]

 

* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' from ''[[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 [[wikipedia:List of United States Marine Corps acronyms and expressions|USMC acronyms and expressions]] open and ready for reference.

 

 

{{quote|'''Top Cat''': Attention! This is T.C. calling with an A.P.B.. Report to the treasure room A.S.A.P..}}

 

* The All The Tropes wiki itself. Those new to the community might have to have [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMoA's]], [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]], and YKTTW explained to them.

** 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 name=TLA /> ETLAs,<ref>Extended Three-Letter Abbreviations</ref> and MTTLAs.<ref>More-Than-Three-Letter Abbreviations</ref>

* 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 with Acronyms|'''P'''eople '''C'''an't '''M'''emorize '''C'''omputer '''I'''ndustry '''A'''cronyms]]".

:The name was eventually changed to the much shorter "PC Card", before the format was replaced entirely by Express Card.

* 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.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]