Real Talk!

There are various types of abbreviations that have been described as “initialisms” or “acronyms”, in which joining the first letters of each word puts a catchy phrase together.

A substantial number of vintage acronyms may be traced to the military, WW II, particularly- these include the term AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave) and SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fouled Up).

I imagine acronyms grow from jargon and form of shorthand that spins through various organizations or industries and the information highway has brought them to us like clever wordplays, permeating society to extraordinary proportions.

Often, conversations are littered with this sort of reference- they are a brief, convenient sort of slang used to simplify dialogue. Realtors ® use MLS ® (multiple listing service) and sometimes I find it funny to see “MLS® listing” because it seems as redundant as “SIN number” (SIN being a Canadian acronym for social insurance number).

We can choose to see anything from a positive or negative perspective. Sure, there are some people who use acronyms for less noble purposes. Whether to exclude, impress or compete- no matter what, some people just seem to need to have the upper hand. Some even mistake identification for intelligence. I’m sure we’ve all met someone who knows the extended phraseology of an acronym; without having a clue about what it means.

On the other hand, wheeling a patient into the ER (short for emergency room) and hearing someone suggest it could be CHF (short for congestive heart failure) and having the patient sent directly to OR (the operating room) could save precious minutes!

Fashionistas recognize DKNY as Donna Karan New York and RK as Ralph Klein. Most consumers recognize GM as General Motors. We know that UCLA is University of California, Los Angeles. Examples such as these are a sign of good marketing & smart business practice.

I have seen people select business names based on the potential for a witty acronym. I know a couple that formed an acronym from the names of their children and they use everywhere, on everything. There is currently a television commercial that pokes fun at a law firm that is interested in simplifying their lengthy list of partners’ to an acronym that would spell the word DINGBATS a.k.a. (also known as) Dudley- Irwin- Newberg-Gonzales-Brown-Anderson-Taylor & Stein.

Acronyms are all around us. The word blog, for example, is an acronym for ”‘web log”… & who among us hasn’t heard of DOA, URL, ABBA, FBI or MADD ? Canadians love the dreaded GST*

The list is infinite…and growing… unstoppably! Which is how our language develops. Yup, we are major stakeholders in the evolution of communication!

& for people who have had enough acronyms- no problem, just practice “RID”- recognize, ignore, delete.

*
DOA- dead on arrival

URL- Uniform Resource Locator

ABBA- The name of a group of Swedish pop musicians: Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, and Anni-Frid

FBI- Federal Bureau of Investigation

MADD- Mothers Against Drunk Driving

GST- Goods & Services Tax