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 CLIT does not exist. By the way, in [[Real Life]], there's '''M'''oro '''I'''slamic '''L'''iberation '''F'''ront.
* ''[[Intolerable Cruelty]]'' features the '''N'''ational '''O'''rganisation for '''M'''atrimonial '''A'''ttorneys '''N'''ationwide, which boils down to NOMAN, although to do so it has to repeat the part about being national. This seems kind of irrelevant until you find out the organisation's slogan: "...let NOMAN put asunder".
* The second ''[[
* In the satirical movie ''[[Team America: World Police]]'', it was quite simple for the filmmakers to change the name of the '''S'''creen '''A'''ctors '''G'''uild -- which already has a pretty unfortunate acronym -- to the '''F'''ilm '''A'''ctors '''G'''uild.
** How could you forget I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.?
* When Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. first appears in the first ''[[Iron Man (
{{quote|
'''Pepper''': That's quite a mouthful.
'''Coulson''': I know, we're working on it. }}
* In ''ROTOR'' (a horrific [[B-Movie]] rip-off of ''Robocop''), the title character stands for '''R'''obotic '''O'''fficer '''T'''actical '''O'''peration '''R'''esearch.
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* People who weren't fans of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels had a ball with pointing out the acronym of episode III to be ''[[Revenge of the Sith|Star Wars: ROTS]]''.
* In the [[James Bond]] spoof ''[[Our Man Flint]]'', Derek Flint is a former agent of the '''Z'''onal '''O'''rganization for '''W'''orld '''I'''ntelligence and '''E'''spionage. He battles the evil organization Galaxy, which in a relative stroke of creativity, appears not to be an acronym for anything.
* ''[[The Cat in
* ''[[
* Everyone knows that HAL 9000 ('''H'''euristic/'''Al'''gorithmic), the sentient computer in the movie ''[[
** 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 ''[[
* 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 (
** 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
* ''[[D.E.B.S.]]'', which stands for '''D'''iscipline, '''E'''nergy, '''B'''eauty, and <s>Schoolgirl fetish</s> '''S'''trength, but is actually short for 'debutantes'.
* 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:
** 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
* ''[[Accepted]]'' dealed with the exploits of a group of would-be college freshmen, who after being rejected from all the colleges and universities to which they had applied, proceed to "create" their own "college": The '''S'''outh '''H'''armon '''I'''nstitute of '''T'''echnology (S.H.I.T).
** Undoubtedly derived from the persistent [[Urban Legends|urban legend]] that claims that a [[Everything Is Big in Texas|Texas]] college was nearly named the '''S'''am '''H'''ouston '''I'''nstitute of '''T'''echnology (or '''T'''eaching).
* In [[Peter Jackson]]'s first film ''[[Bad Taste]]'', the heroes are part of the '''A'''stro '''I'''nvasion '''D'''efense '''S'''quad.
* In the 1987 film remake of ''[[Dragnet]]'', starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, they uncover a sinister organisation named 'P.A.G.A.N.' - '''P'''eople '''A'''gainst '''G'''oodness '''A'''nd '''N'''ormalcy.
* Parodied in [[Cloudy
* The [[Transformers Film Series]] gives us NEST. Unfortunately, there are conflicting explanations for what the acronym stands for - it's either '''N'''etworked '''E'''lements: '''S'''upporters and '''T'''ransformers, '''N'''onbiological '''E'''xtraterrestrial '''S'''pecies '''T'''reaty, or '''N'''onbiological '''E'''xtraterrestrial '''S'''pecies '''T'''eam, depending on the source.
** Confusing, especially since there's a real-life NEST: '''N'''uclear '''E'''mergency '''S'''upport '''T'''eam.
* One that's easy to overlook but obvious in retrospect, ''[[
* [[Up to Eleven|Upped To Eleven]] as pretty much every single main character with Pixar's [[WALL-E]], '''W'''aste '''A'''llocation '''L'''oad '''L'''ifter · '''E'''arth Class, has one(i.e. '''E'''xtraterrestrial '''V'''egetation '''E'''valuator, and the '''M'''icrobe-'''O'''bliterator).
* From ''[[Blue Thunder]]'', JAFO ('''J'''ust '''A'''nother '''F'''ucking '''O'''bserver), used to refer to the chain of observers that Frank Murphy is said to go through because of his behavior. The viewer isn't made aware of the expansion until {{spoiler|after Lymangood gets killed}}.
* From ''[[Men in Black (
{{quote|
* In the T&A comedy ''H.O.T.S.'' the name offically stands for "'''H'''elp '''O'''ut '''T'''he '''S'''eals."
* 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:
* 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.
{{tropesubpagefooter}}
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