When I was in 5th grade (in Newington, Connecticut), we learned about acronyms. I remember having a lot of fun with that lesson’s homework assignment, which included making up some acronyms on our own. It seemed that our teacher was forever having to stop students from flying paper airplanes in the classroom, so I felt quite proud when I came up with PAIN = Paper Airplane Industries of Newington. I was very disappointed that Mr. Charamut didn’t make a single comment on my cleverness.
I have since learned that PAIN would be a “backronym” – a phrase constructed from an existing word, as opposed to constructing a new word from the initials of words in a phrase. (Though wikipedia’s acronym page and its backronym page do not seem to quite agree on the definition of this term.) PAIN was also intended as an “apronym” (per the backronym page, or a “contrived acronym” per the acronym page) in which the word is related to or descriptive of the phrase that makes it up. I still have fun coming up with backronyms/apronyms – here is my latest crop:
COFFEE = Caffeine Optimally Formulated For Energy Enhancement
TELEPHONE = Totally Exasperating Link Eliminating People’s Hope Of Noiseless Environments
CHOCOLATE = Candy High On Calories, Overly Luscious And Tasty (Extremely)
I hadn’t thought to try to create a backronym of ACRONYM, but apparently some other people have put a fair amount of effort into it.
Another term, which I just learned from wikipedia’s backronym page, is anacronym. These are backronyms that have replaced the phrases that formed the original acronym. I had heard of SADD, but had not realized that it had been expanded (in 1997) from its original focus on drunk driving to the broader range of “destructive decisions.” And I remember taking the SAT, the Scholastic Aptitude Test. I hadn’t known that it had originally been named the Scholastic Achievement Test. (Or that it was later renamed the Scholastic Assessment Test, and now – like KFC – is a three letter name that officially stands for nothing at all.)
Some acronyms are so successful that they become ordinary words. I was quite surprised, a couple years ago, to learn from a co-worker who had just returned from a scuba-diving vacation, that scuba = Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. (I was also surprised to find out just how many of my co-workers, in an IT department of a corporation based in eastern Iowa, are scuba divers.)
Laser is another acronym. I probably knew that in 11th grade when I took physics, but the phrase Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation had long ago escaped my memory, as lasers became more and more a part of daily life.
Some acronyms can cause other kinds of confusion. I just read an anecdote about a woman who was preparing to give a presentation at work. She was very disturbed when her boss sent her a memo telling her she needed to KISS. Apparently she was unfamiliar with this common shorthand for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Well, I guess the boss kept his memo a little too simple.
Well, it’s time for bed (Bodily Ease Device)
