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Fun with Acronyms/Real Life: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
==Subpages==
{{subpages}}
== Commerce ==
* There's a British clothing chain called the '''F'''rench '''C'''onnection, '''U'''nited '''K'''ingdom (all lowercase, so fcuk). They've had a lot of fun putting their brand on shirts, and stirred up controversy opening up shops in the US.
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== Government ==
* '''P'''rovince of '''O'''ntario '''L'''and '''R'''egistration '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem
* Too many names of individual laws, bills or pieces of legislation to list them all. For instance RICO (the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organisations law in the US) was named for "Rico", a gangster in an old film. These are backronyms as the name was chosen to yield the desired initials.
* Plenty of individual government agencies have three-letter acronyms as names.
** The FBI backronyms its name (which is an abbreviation of Federal Bureau of Investigation) to generate the FBI motto as "fidelity, bravery, integrity" - and its critics after the Waco massacre were just as quick to backronym "FBI - Federal Bureau of Incineration and BATF - Burn All The Families".
** Likewise, NSA (National Security Agency, the US signals intelligence operation) as "No Such Agency" or, conversely, "Not Secret Anymore". So much for gentlemen not opening each other's mail.
== Military ==
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* The term "'''S'''pecial '''W'''eapons '''A'''nd '''T'''actics" worked out very well for the public image of SWAT teams. Well enough that they could ignore the fact that, by standard acronym rules, it really ought to have been SWT. SWAT originally stood for '''S'''pecial '''W'''eapons '''A'''ssault '''T'''eam, but this acronym was rejected by higher-ups in the Los Angeles Police Department for sounding too military. Referring to a police squad as an "assault team" was considered to give the wrong impression, even though that's exactly what SWAT teams are.
* Missed opportunity for the bureau of [[The Alcoholic|Alcohol]], [[Must Have Nicotine|Tobacco]], [[Hand Cannon|Firearms]] and [[Stuff Blowing Up|Explosives]] to be called [[Awesome McCoolname|The Bureau of]] '''[[Poetic Justice|FATE]]'''.
== Transport ==
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** Parodied by [[Mad Magazine]] as the '''C'''ommittee to '''R'''eelect the '''A'''merican '''P'''resident.
** And by [[Marvel Comics]] with the Committee to Regain America's Principles.
** And by the late [[Kenny Everett]] in his repeating ''[[Dallas (1978 TV series)|Dallas]]/[[Dynasty]]'' parody ''Dallasty''; the last episode of such in each show ended with "credits" which were of course absurdly long and scrolled past far too rapidly to read, and at the very end said (for a second or two) "Creative Research Associates Production" -- stacked vertically so that the "CRAP" lined up and could clearly be read as such.
* '''S'''easonal '''A'''ffective '''D'''isorder, or SAD, happens to be seasonally-dependent classical depression. Who says shrinks don't have a sense of humour?
** Or '''S.O.S.A.D''', which would be '' '''S'''udden '''O'''nset'' '''Seasonal''' '''A'''ffective '''D'''isorder. And it is '''SO SAD'''.
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* eBay used to deal with certain problems through its '''S'''afe '''H'''arbor '''I'''nvestigations '''T'''eam
* "'''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|ZAPHOD]]'''" to "'''Z'''eta '''A'''rtifical '''P'''eacekeeping and '''H'''azardous '''O'''bservation '''D'''evice".
* From computational fluid dynamics, the '''A'''dvection '''U'''pstream '''S'''plitting '''M'''ethod and its variants (yes, it's pronounced like [[
* Giving Transformers fans amusement is the fact that there's a real-life NEST organization - the '''N'''uclear '''E'''mergency '''S'''upport '''T'''eam.
* For a brief period in the late '80s, early '90s, the British armed police units were assigned the designation of '''F'''ire-'''A'''rms '''R'''esponse '''T'''eams (or, according to some sources) '''F'''ast '''A'''rmed '''R'''esponse '''T'''eams. Someone pointed out the acronym, and now they are the less amusing '''A'''rmed '''R'''esponse '''U'''nit.
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* The '''A'''ssociation of '''C'''ommunity '''O'''rganizers for '''R'''eform '''N'''ow had far more to do with the fact that it spelled '''ACORN''' than what it stood for.
* '''E'''lectron '''G'''amma '''S'''hower computer code system. Something to do with electrons and protons and simulators. We do know another meaning for "'''EGS'''", do we?
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110604033036/http://www.aaai.org/Papers/AAAI/2006/AAAI06-278.pdf Oliviero Stock and Carlo Strapparava] developed Hahacronym, a "computational humor system" that basically creates acronyms according to given themes, such as "Main concept: writing; Attribute: creative", which, when fed with CAUSTIC gives us "Creative Activity for Unconvincingly Sporadically Talkative Individualistic Commercials."
* [[That Other Wiki]] says the early versions of the [[wikipedia:Meal, Ready-to-Eat#Criticism|MRE rations]] of the US military were giving a number of nicknames based off the acronym MRE to say how they taste like crap.
** Examples: '''M'''aterials '''R'''esembling '''E'''dibles, '''Mr. E''' (mystery), '''M'''eals '''R'''ejected by '''E'''thiopians, and '''M'''eals '''R'''efusing to '''E'''xit (referring to the constipation that ensues after consuming it), to name a few.
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* The BAE Systems '''T'''ornado '''A'''dvanced '''R'''adar '''D'''isplay '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem. (The Panavia Tornado is a jet fighter)
* A [http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/batman-prepares-join-air-force/story?id=11656444 new bit of technology] in the Air Force for reducing the amount of weight soldiers carry is in development. It involves carrying [[Utility Belt|equipment in pouches about the belt]], and is called the '''B'''attlefield '''A'''ir '''T'''argeting '''M'''an-'''A'''ided k'''N'''owledge (Yes, '''BATMAN'''), complete with grappling hook (though it's used for drawing power from low-hanging power lines). A lot of it is used for communications equipment, it seems.
* Between 1972 and 1986 Princeton University
* The Scripps institute makes regular use of a '''Fl'''oating '''I'''nstrument '''P'''latform in oceanographic research. The FLIP is a non-powered ship which the Navy tugs out to sea, where it ''flips'' 90 degrees, leaving one end sticking up above the surface and achieving perfect stability in the roughest weather.
* Generally, SWAT is the acronym of '''s'''pecial '''w'''eapons '''a'''nd '''t'''actics. But after an [[wikipedia:2010 Manila hostage crisis|incident]], some people use this to describe the [[Police Are Useless|police]] of a certain [[Philippines|country]].
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* DELTA Airlines is often [[Backronym|Backronymed]] as "'''D'''on't '''E'''xpect '''L'''uggage '''T'''o '''A'''rrive.
** There are others that call it "'''D'''on't '''E'''xpect '''L'''uxury '''T'''ravel, '''A'''sshole", in case the previous one didn't paint a good enough picture of the general opinion of the airline.
** Or simply '''D'''oesn't '''E'''ver '''L'''eave '''T'''he '''A'''irport. Similar "backronyms" exist for pretty much every major airline, from BOAC (Barely Own Any Clocks) through QANTAS (Queers And Nancies Trained As Stewards) to VASP (Vomite Aqui Seu Porco — Throw Up Here You Pig).
* The '''V'''ancouver '''A'''rt '''G'''allery. As a matter of fact, during the Olympics, admission to the VAG was free.
* The [[wikipedia:Committee of Union and Progress|Committee of Union and Progress]]. There is one reason and one reason alone that it's a shame that they never expanded outside of Turkey and became the International Committee of Union and Progress, and the reason is this: I see you pee.
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* The [http://pinktentacle.com/2006/07/device-uses-waves-to-print-on-water-surface/ AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin)], a device that can "print" letters on the surface of water.
* Golf is widely believed to be an acronym of '''G'''entlemen '''O'''nly, '''L'''adies '''F'''orbidden, but [[wikipedia:Golf|this is not actually the case]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120120135554/http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP
* American Indians in the sixties started '''C'''oncerned '''I'''ndian '''A'''mericans, which became the '''A'''merican '''I'''ndian '''M'''ovement when they realized what they'd just spelled.
* Though not all of the animals in these taxa have baculums, these are the orders with baculums: '''P'''rimates, '''R'''odents, '''I'''nsectivores, '''C'''arnivores, and '''C'''hiroptera. A baculum is a penis bone.
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* '''[[Totally Radical|RADICL]]''' ('''R'''esearch '''A'''ssessment, '''D'''evice '''I'''mprovement '''C'''hemical '''L'''aser), a 20kW '''C'''hemical '''O'''xygen '''I'''odine '''L'''aser ('''COIL''') tested by the '''U'''nited '''S'''tates '''A'''ir '''F'''orce around 1998.
* [[Yahoo!]] Yet Another Highly Organized Oracle
* While [[Special Broadcasting Service|SBS]] is officially an acronym of '''S'''pecial '''B'''roadcasting '''S'''ervice, in the mid-2000s they devised a backronym that's been at the centre of their promotional material ever since: '''S'''ix '''B'''illion '''S'''tories (and counting...). [[Memetic Mutation|Alternatively]], '''S'''ex and '''B'''loody '''S'''occer.
* [[Urban
** A similar joke advocates renaming the Rochester Institute of Technology to identify as suburban South Henrietta, now that the school has moved to the suburbs.
* In British medical terminology (at least in the GUM field) there's '''U'''n'''p'''rotected '''S'''exual '''I'''ntercourse
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* At the National Air & Space Museum, there's an unmanned, remotely piloted aircraft on display that was called HiMAT short for '''Hi'''ghly '''M'''aneuverable '''A'''ircraft '''T'''echnology.
* MOOSE - "'''M'''anned '''O'''rbital '''O'''perations '''S'''afety '''E'''quipment" aka "'''M'''an '''O'''ut '''O'''f '''S'''pace '''E'''asiest" - a [https://web.archive.org/web/20141020041741/http://www.boggsspace.com/strange_but_true.asp project] for creating an [[Escape Pod]]/personal reentry vehicle from General Electric (late 1960-s).
* [[
* Due to the "official" name "[[Multiplayer Online Battle Arena]]" being artificially created for advertising and extremely ambiguous (literally any game with online multiplayer combat fits these words) an alternate and more specific term arose '''A'''eon of '''S'''trife '''S'''tyle(d) '''F'''ortress '''A'''ssault '''G'''ame (sometimes extended to include '''G'''oing '''O'''n '''T'''wo '''S'''ides.
* According to its founder, the name of the restaurant "Moe's Southwestern Grill" is built around the acronym for "'''M'''usicians, '''O'''utlaws and '''E'''ntertainers".
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* Soldiers unhappy with Fort Eustis, Virginia created the clever backronym '''E'''ven '''U'''ncle '''S'''am '''T'''hinks '''I'''t '''S'''ucks.
* Members of U.S. Congress have a colorful acronym to describe [[Donald Trump]]'s [https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/07/02/people-have-started-calling-trumps-draft-bill-to-abandon-world-trade-rules-the-fart-act/23472912/ United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act].
* Broadcast networks are also the target of backronyms. The [[CBS (company)|CBS]] Television Network was originally the Columbia Broadcasting System, named indirectly for the recording company. The record company and film studio have since been sold to Sony, so supposedly CBS is now an orphan initialism which stands for nothing. In any case, by 1993 CBS had lost a key [[NFL]] coverage deal to the then-upstart [[FOX]] network, leading to news coverage in which CBS was said to stand for [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-22-ca-4554-story.html Can't Broadcast Sports]. To add insult to injury, New World Communications disaffiliated its stations from CBS in key markets
** For that matter, [[West Germany|West German]] public broadcaster ARD was "all but Rugen and Dresden" as its coverage in the [[Cold War]] era failed to reach the furthest corners of communist [[East Germany]] from either West Germany or West Berlin. (Dresden's position as a "valley of ignorance" on low ground didn't help.)
* Keebler's E.L. Fudge cookies. [[Tagline| That's E as in "Everyone", L as in "Loves", Fudge.]]
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