Fun with Acronyms/Film: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
* The [[James Bond]] films had the evil organisation SPECTRE, which was the '''SP'''ecial '''E'''xecutive for '''C'''ounterintelligence, '''T'''errorism, '''R'''evenge and '''E'''xtortion.
** ''Probably'' subverted with the fancy-sounding but not acronymmy QUANTUM.
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* ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'' featured a car called the '''S'''uper '''L'''uxurious '''O'''mnidirectional '''W'''hatchamajigger. It's better than it's previous name, the [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Super Hydraulic Instantaneous Transporter.]]
* ''[[C.H.U.D.]]'' stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller, and is a lot of fun to pronounce. {{spoiler|Well, it actually stands for Contaminated Hazard Urban Disposal.}}
* Everyone knows that HAL 9000 ('''H'''euristic/'''Al'''gorithmic), the sentient computer in the movie ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' is named such that if you take the next letter after each letter in its name, you get IBM. Leonard Wheat, in his book ''Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory'', argues that this is not a coincidence (in spite of Arthur Clarke's insistence). Wheat plausibly explains the origin of the 9000 in the name, and also goes on to argue (convincingly!) that the moon monolith's official designation of TMA-1 should actually be spelled "TMA ONE" and is an anagram for "NO MEAT". Wheat's [
** Incidentally TMA stands for Tycho Magnetic Anomaly, since the first monolith was buried in the Tycho crater on the moon and was discovered only because it produced odd readings in the moon's magnetic field. This mentioned only in the book (kinda self-explanatory, though).
** This may be countered that we have an "Over 9000" in the present, when if ''God forbid'' someone would use the number, even if he has little relation with the internet, it'd be considered that he knew and is trying to make fun of it. However, since the book is written so early in time, only a true paranoid would accuse him of this. So today's paranoia was yesterday's "keen observational skills". Compare "What if Shakespeare lived in our time" (I'm almost wishing there's no trope for this).
* The film ''[[Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla]]'' had the giant robot named M.O.G.U.E.R.A which stands for "Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-Type."
* In the comedy ''[[J-Men Forever!]]'' (1979) the F.C.C. (Federal Culture Control), KRAP Radio, and M.U.S.A.C. (the Military Underground Sugared Airwaves Command) join forces to broadcast schmaltzy music to counter the rock & roll invasion of Earth. And there's Billy <s>Batson</s> Batchit, who becomes The Caped Madman (a [[Gag Dub|re-dubbed]] [[Captain Marvel]]) by uttering the magic word "SH-BOOM!", enabling Billy to ''"take on all the vices of a J-Man of the Secret Service: '''S''' for Sneaky, '''H''' for Hateful, '''B''' for Bigotted, '''O''' for Obnoxious, another '''O''' for Double-Obnoxious, and '''M''' for Mean!"''
* In the ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' [[Watchmen (film)|movie]], {{spoiler|Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias}} uses a device called "SQUID" to {{spoiler|destroy New York City and several other cities}}. What does "SQUID" stand for? Sub-Quantum Intrinsic Device. "The squid" is the fan name for {{spoiler|the giant tentacled alien creature that destroys NYC in the original graphic novel}}, and the name was inserted into the movie either as a [[Mythology Gag]] referencing the book's original ending or a salt-in-the-wound attack on an overprotective fanbase.
** It seems that a SQUID is a real-world device, although it really stands for "Superconducting Quantum Interference Device" Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID
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* The '''D'''eadly '''V'''iper '''A'''ssassination '''S'''quad or [[Kill Bill|D(I)VAS]] (er, [[My Friends and Zoidberg|plus Budd]]).
* The [[G.I. Joe]] movie, ''[[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra|G.I. Joe the Rise of Cobra]]'', has a lot of changes from the source material (much to fans' displeasure), one of them being that the "Real American Heroes" are now international. "G.I. Joe" was a reference to World War II-era General Infantry units, with "Joe" a generic moniker; with the name retained for the movie despite the "American" part going out the window, the creative minds behind the movie decided to shoehorn in an appropriately awkward acronym. Feast your eyes upon the '''G'''lobal '''I'''ntegrated '''J'''oint '''O'''perating '''E'''ntity!
** Actually, GI seems to have started out as an abbreviation for 'Galvanised Iron' military equipment, then for 'General Issue' equipment and adopted in that sense by the troops for themselves, not 'General Infantry.'
* ''[[Glengarry Glen Ross]]'': '''A'''lways '''B'''e '''C'''losing; '''A'''ttention '''I'''nterest '''D'''ecision '''A'''ction
* In ''[[The Avengers (1998 film)|The Avengers 1998]]'', one of the [[Villain]] organizations is named the '''B'''ritish '''R'''oyal '''O'''rganization for '''L'''asting '''L'''iquid '''Y'''ears. "Brolly" is British slang for "umbrella", which is appropriate since the plot of the movie involves weather control.
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* In ''[[Star Wars]]'', TIE fighters were called that because the original TIE fighter looks like a bowtie. It canonically stands for '''T'''win '''I'''on '''E'''ngine.
* According to [[All There in the Manual|the manual]] ([http://www.pasivdevice.org quite literally, in this case]) for ''[[Inception]]'', the device the characters use to administer sedatives and facilitate the sharing of dreams is called the '''P'''ortable '''A'''utomated '''S'''omnacin '''I'''ntra'''V'''enous Device.
* The low budget ''[[Captain America (1990 film)|Captain America]]'' film staring [[Reb Brown]] had the [[Super Serum]] '''F'''ull '''L'''atent '''A'''bility '''G'''ain.
* In ''Kiss Of Death'', Little Junior claims to have an acronym for himself: B.A.D. for "Balls, Attitude, Determination". He suggests Jimmy Kilmartin (who's secretly informing on him) get one too - since he's spent most of the film as the [[Butt Monkey]], Jimmy gives the snarky suggestion of "F.A.B." for "Fucked at birth". {{spoiler|What seems like just a comic moment turns out to be important later, when Jimmy finds his missing young daughter... with "BAD" written on her forehead}}.
* In the Adam West [[Batman: The Movie|Batman]] movie, Catwoman masqueraded as a writer from the Moscow Bugle named '''K'''itayna '''I'''reyna '''T'''atanya '''K'''erenska '''A'''lisoff...but suggested that Bruce call her KITKA for short. He even commented that it was a charming acronym.
* From the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] film ''[[Spider-Man: Far From Home]]'', there's EDITH, an [[AI]] support system left to Peter Parker by the late Tony Stark: '''E'''ven '''D'''ead '''I'''{{'}}m '''T'''he '''H'''ero.
* The title of the 2013 [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] film ''[[FUBAR]]'' is an acronym for "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition", a... colloquial definition of the word "fubar" often used in the military.
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