An amusing glance into the world of acronyms

By D. Chandramouli

JAKARTA (JP): An acronym is an abbreviation made from the initial letters of a term or phrase. Acronyms are intended to facilitate communication and quick understanding. They are too important to ignore in this modern world.

A word to the efficient is sufficient. But are we efficient enough to interpret the true meaning of all the acronyms that are in circulation? Furthermore, how do we unravel the mysteries of new acronyms, which are proliferating like mushrooms every day? I believe it's time we had a reliable source containing accurate descriptions of the acronyms which are in day-to-day use.

Acronyms never fail to fascinate me. It seems that the most creative people are those who are engaged in the field of coining new acronyms. Let's consider the following, where their imaginations have indeed run riot!

ABCD = Active Blood Collectors & Donors.

ACT = Attitude Changing Environment.

ADAM = Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine.

ASSIST = Association for research in Sexology, Sex Information & Sex Therapy.

COBRA = Clear Over Base Rapid Application (An automobile paint).

CRY = Child Relief & You (A social service organization in India).

FAST = Flexible, Advanced, Shuttleless Technology (Weaving looms in Textile Industry).

FIRST = Fully Integrated Road Safety Technology.

FOREST = Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco.

NEAR = Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (First spacecraft to orbit an asteroid).

NOVA = National Organization for Victim Assistance (in USA).

SITA = Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act.

WATCH = Women And Their Children's Health.

A Monday edition of The Jakarta Post carries the following acronyms: MGA, VRAM, MPEG, EDO RAM, AMD, WRAM, NASCAR, SoftPEG. In case readers are confused, let me hasten to say that these are computer-related acronyms.

Many people must have heard the name "ADIDAS". But how many would know that this term represents "All Day I Dream About Sports?" Likewise, the word "SCUBA" originates from "Self- Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus".

What is STYLE? It is "Success Through Your Life Enrichment"!

Some of you may be wondering what "ERASMUS", located on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, Jakarta, stands for. It's the "European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students".

What should be your objective? To be "SMART", right? "SMART" signifies "Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & with a Timeframe"!

A good friend of mine once explained to me that "BIBLE" means "Behold I Being Life Eternal".

"Together Everyone Achieves More". Well, that's what a TEAM is all about!

Most of us in modern organizations must sweat it out to know the "SWOTS" -- "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats & Strategies".

Without going to a university, one can easily obtain a B.A degree: just visit the U.S. and add a suffix "B.A." to your name ("Been in America").

How did the word "TIPs" originate? It is "To Insure Promptness".

A zealot Hindu explained that the word "GOD" is composed of three letters -- G for Generator (Brahma), O for Operator (Wisnu) and D for Destroyer (Shiwa) -- the Trinity embodied in Hinduism.

When the GATT negotiations were taking place under the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a delegate from a developing country expressed his genuine fears and wondered "Are we GATTing into hot water"? The long-winded discussions caused another delegate remark that the whole exercise was only a "General Agreement to Talk & Talk"!

Incidentally, an Indonesian friend tells me that the generally understood meaning of the term "NATO" in Indonesia is "No Action, Talks Only"!

Nothing is worse for morale than a lack of information down in the ranks. The author of the book The Art of Japanese Management defined this problem in organizations as "NETMA": Nobody Ever Tells Me Anything".

When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister of India, he was considered so indispensable to the nation that the media described that he truly enjoyed a "TINA" factor, meaning "There Is No Alternative".

A female executive at a company sent an important and lengthy report to her boss, a middle-aged gentleman. This man, acting too smart, returned the report to the lady with a small note saying "If you'd like to get this report approved, you'll have to KISS".

The woman justifiably got very angry and went straight to the managing director's (MD) office, strongly complaining to the MD. She complained that if no action was taken against her boss, she'd have no alternative but to resign from her job. The MD promptly called the male officer into his office and demanded an explanation.

Meanwhile, the news spread like wildfire within the office and people started commenting that "men become naughty after 40"!

However, after a little while, both the male boss and the lady emerged from the MD's office, the former smiling and the latter looking visibly shy.

What was the secret of their rapprochement?

All the boss meant in his note was "You'll have to Keep It Short & Sweet" (KISS)!

An Acronym may also be derived from its "parent" acronym, such as "ARF" (ASEAN Regional Forum), "ABAC" (APEC Business Advisory Council), "AFTA" (ASEAN Free Trade Agreement) etc.

"O.K" is an abbreviation for "all right". For some people, this can take the form of a verb, as in "I OK'd your proposal".

George Orwell once compared using jargon to the process of picking up ready-made and worn-out strips of words and gluing them together as an easy way to avoid the thoughts required for original writing.

Similarly, I think the present-day acronyms often reflect a desire to avoid the responsibility of engaging in direct, clear and effective communication. Simple, direct and forceful words are abbreviated into unintelligible acronyms, which pose a great threat to understanding and knowledge.

Just as a tailpiece, is the word "acronym" itself an acronym? An ingenious correspondent once wrote in the Post that it stood for "Association for Citizens' Rights for Oppressed New York Minorities"!