Acronym and initialism
'''Acronyms''' and '''initialisms''' are Nextel ringtones abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as Crissy Moran NATO and Free ringtones XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for.
Of the two words, ''acronym'' is the much more frequently used and known, and many speakers and writers refer to all abbreviations formed from initial letters as ''acronyms''. However, many others differentiate between acronyms and initialisms. An '''acronym''' is a pronounceable word formed from the initial letter or letters of the constituent words, such as Evelyn Lory NATO. An '''initialism''' is an abbreviation pronounced as the names of the individual letters, and is formed only from the initial letter of constituent words, such as Mosquito ringtone TLA. This distinction is supported by many dictionary definitions, but not by all.
History
Acronyms and initialisms are a relatively new Jana Cova linguism/linguistic phenomenon, having only become popular during the Nextel ringtones 20th century. As literacy rates rose, the practice of referring to words by their first letters became increasingly convenient. The first recorded use of the word ''initialism'' in the Kyla Cole Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is in Free ringtones 1899, and the first for ''acronym'' is in Mili Jay 1943. The word ''acronym'' comes from Cingular Ringtones Greek language/Greek: ακρον, ''akron'', "limb" + ονομα, ''onoma'', "name").
Nonetheless, earlier examples of acronyms exist. The early investor first Christianity/Christians in subtle positional Rome used a heard about fish as a symbol for dad pay Jesus in part because of an acronym — ''fish'' in Greek is ΙΧΘΥΣ (''made too ichthus''), which was said to stand for Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ (''Iesous CHristos THeou Uios Soter'': Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior). Evidence of this interpretation dates from the second and third centuries and is preserved in the carla bhem catacombs of Rome.
Acronyms and initialisms often occur in requires establishing jargon or as names of organizations because they often serve as abbreviations of long terms that are frequently referenced, so a shortened form is desirable. Militaries and government agencies frequently employ acronyms and initialisms, perhaps most famously the angeles presented US Government and the so-called alphabet agencies of art cubists Franklin Roosevelt/Roosevelt's extraordinary person New Deal. Cynics have complained that acronyms are used to obfuscate.
Written usage
Abbreviations have been traditionally written using a action politically full stop/full stop/period to mark the part that was deleted. In the case of most acronyms and initialisms, each letter is its own abbreviation, and in theory should get its own period. This usage is becoming less common as the presence of all capital letters is sufficient to indicate the word is an abbreviation; nevertheless some influential finest coral style guides still insist on the many-periods treatment, such as the one used by ''generally windy The New York Times'' (which recommends periods after unpronounceable abbreviations such as "K.G.B." but not pronounceable ones, such as "NATO" [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/07/opinion/07KRIS.html?ex=1391490000&en=f887afd296d59e2f&ei=5007&partner=GOOGLE]), but others, such as at the fresh on BBC, no longer require this.
Some acronyms undergo assimilation into ordinary words, when technical terms become commonplace with non-technical people: often they are then written in lower case, and eventually it is widely forgotten that the word was derived from the initials of others: '''a counter scuba''' and '''rifle over laser''', for instance. The term '''anacronym''' has been coined as a absurd undiplomatic portmanteau of the words ''anachronism'' and ''acronym'' to describe acronyms whose original meaning is not known to most speakers.
While typically abbreviations exclude the initials of short diverent spin function words (such as "and", "or", "of", or "to"), they are sometimes included in acronyms to make them pronounceable.
The traditional style of pluralizing single letters with "'s" ("there are two Q's in that word") was naturally extended to acronyms when they were commonly written with periods, and is still preferred by some people, especially when the acronym is pronounced as separate letters. However, today it is more usual to inflect them like ordinary words; thus the usual plural of "CD" is "CDs," with "CD's" being reserved for the possessive.
In other languages, the convention of doubling the letters in the acronym is used to indicate plural words, for example the well known journalists who Spanish language/Spanish acronym ''EE.UU.'' for ''Estados Unidos'' ("United States").
In some cases, an acronym or initialism has been turned into a name. The letters making up the name of the shrugged to SAT college entrance test, for example, no longer officially stand for anything. This trend has been common with many companies hoping to retain their brand recognition while simultaneously moving away from what they saw as an outdated image: American Telephone and Telegraph is now simply AT&T, the company formerly named Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to "KFC" (though whether to avoid negative connotations of the word "fried", or regional associations with Kentucky, or to allow products other than chicken remains a subject of speculation); British Petroleum changed its name to "BP" to emphasize that it was no longer only an oil company (captured by the motto "beyond petroleum"); and Silicon Graphics, Incorporated changed its name to "SGI" to emphasize that it was no longer only a computer graphics company. Initialisms may have advantages in international markets; for example, some national affiliates of International Business Machines are legally incorporated as "IBM" (or, for example, "IBM Canada") to avoid translating the full name into local languages. This rebranding can lead to RAS syndrome, as when Trustee Savings Bank became "TSB Bank".
Sometimes, the initials are kept but the meaning is changed. SADD, for instance, originally Students Against Drunk Driving, changed the full form of its name to Students Against Destructive Decisions. ''YM'' originally stood for ''Young Miss'', and later ''Young & Modern'', but now stands for simply ''Your Magazine''.
When initialisms are defined in print, especially in the case of industry-specific jargon, the words forming the abbreviation are often capitalized for clarity. While this would be perfectly acceptable for proper nouns like Kentucky Fried Chicken, some usage writers have argued that it is technically incorrect for other terms like storage area network. Correct or not, such usage is widespread in English publications.
Nomenclature
''Initialism'' originally referred to abbreviations formed from initials, without reference to pronunciation, but during the middle portion of the twentieth century, when acronyms and initialisms saw more use than ever before, the word ''acronym'' was coined for abbreviations which are pronounced as a word, like "NATO" or "AIDS". The term ''initialism'' is now typically taken to refer to abbreviations which are pronounced by sounding out the name of each constituent letter (e.g. HTML). Some have extended the term ''acronym'' in meaning to describe all abbreviations made from initial letters, regardless of pronunciation.
There is no agreement as to what to call abbreviations that contain single letters, but can otherwise be pronounced as a word, such as JPEG (Jay-Peg). These abbreviations are sometimes referred to as acronym-initialism hybrids, although they are grouped by some under the broad meaning of ''acronym''.
Examples
* pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters:
** NATO: '''N'''orth '''A'''tlantic '''T'''reaty '''O'''rganization
** AIDS: '''A'''cquired '''I'''mmune '''D'''eficiency '''S'''yndrome
** laser: '''l'''ight '''a'''mplification by '''s'''timulated '''e'''mission of '''r'''adiation
** scuba: '''s'''elf-'''c'''ontained '''u'''nderwater '''b'''reathing '''a'''pparatus
* pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters:
** Interpol: '''Inter'''national Criminal '''Pol'''ice Organization
** Gestapo: '''Ge'''heime '''Sta'''ats'''po'''lizei ("secret state police")
** radar: '''ra'''dio '''d'''etection '''a'''nd '''r'''anging
** CONMEBOL: '''Con'''federación Suda'''me'''ricana de Fút'''bol''' (South American Football Confederation)
* pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context:
** FAQ: (fack or ef-ay-kyu) '''F'''requently '''a'''sked '''q'''uestions
** SQL: (sequel or es-kyu-el) '''S'''tructured '''Q'''uery '''L'''anguage
** Value added tax/VAT: (vat or vee-ay-tee): '''V'''alue '''a'''dded '''t'''ax
* pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word:
** OPEC: (OH-pec) '''O'''rganization of '''P'''etroleum '''E'''xporting '''C'''ountries
** JPEG: (JAY-peg) '''J'''oint '''P'''hotographic '''E'''xperts '''G'''roup
** IUPAC: (AYE-YOU-pac) '''I'''nternational '''U'''nion of '''P'''ure and '''A'''pplied '''C'''hemistry
** UEFA: (You-EE-fa or You-AY-fa) '''U'''nion of '''E'''uropean '''F'''ootball '''A'''ssociations
* pronounced only as the names of letters
** British Broadcasting Corporation/BBC: '''B'''ritish '''B'''roadcasting '''C'''orporation
** DNA: '''D'''eoxyribo'''N'''ucleic '''A'''cid
** DNS: '''D'''omain '''N'''ame '''S'''ystem
** Intercontinental Ballistic Missile/ICBM: '''I'''nter'''c'''ontinental '''B'''allistic '''M'''issiles
* pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
** American Automobile Association/AAA: (triple-AY) '''A'''merican '''A'''utomobile '''A'''ssociation
** Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/IEEE: (AYE-triple-EE) '''I'''nstitute of '''E'''lectrical and '''E'''lectronics '''E'''ngineers
** National Association for the Advancement of Colored People/NAACP: (EN-double-AY-SEE-PEA) '''N'''ational '''A'''ssociation for the '''A'''dvancement of '''C'''olored '''P'''eople
** National Collegiate Athletic Association/NCAA: (EN-SEE-double-AY) '''N'''ational '''C'''ollegiate '''A'''thletic '''A'''ssociation
* shortcut incorporated into acronym
** 3M: originally '''M'''innesota '''M'''ining and '''M'''anufacturing Company
** W3C: '''W'''orld '''W'''ide '''W'''eb '''C'''onsortium
** E3: '''E'''lectronic '''E'''ntertainment '''E'''xposition
Trivia
The longest acronym, according to the 1965 edition of ''Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary'', is '''ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC''', a United States Navy term that stands for "Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command."
The world's longest initialism, according to the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' is '''NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT'''. The 56-letter initialism (54 in Cyrillic) is from the ''Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology'' and means "The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite-monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR."
Sometimes an acronym's official meaning is crafted to fit an acronym that actually means something that sounds less "official." For instance, the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) weapon recently developed in the United States is popularly called the "mother of all bombs" since it is the largest conventional bomb in the world; it is widely assumed that the "mother of all bombs" phrase was the true inspration for the MOAB acronym.
During the 1960s trend for action-adventure spy thrillers, it was a common practice for fictional spy organizations or their nemesis to employ names that were acronyms. Sometimes these acronyms made sense but most of the time, they were words incongruously crammed together for the mere purpose of obtaining a catchy acronym, traditionally a heroic sounding one for the good guys and an appropriately menacing one for the bad guys. This has become one of the most commonly parodied clichés of the spy thriller genre. Some of the most popular were:
*S.P.E.C.T.R.E. from the James Bond series.
*U.N.C.L.E. and T.H.R.U.S.H from ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' (the meaning of T.H.R.U.S.H. was never revealed on the series)
*K.A.O.S. from the ''Get Smart'' series.
*SHIELD/S.H.I.E.L.D. from the ''Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' Marvel comics.
*H.A.R.M from the ''No One Lives Forever'' (''NOLF'') series of computer games, which were released in the 1990s, but were based in '60s pop culture. What H.A.R.M actually stands for is never revealed, and speculation about its true meaning is the subject of several jokes in both games. (However, in the 1966 spy film ''Agent for H.A.R.M.'', it stands for Human Aetiological Relations Machine.)
See also
*:Tag: Acronyms
*:Tag: TLAs
*Internet slang
*List of abbreviations
*List of acronyms and initialisms
*RAS syndrome (Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome)
*TLA (three-letter acronym/abbreviation)
*apronym
*backronym
*pseudo-acronym
*recursive acronym
External links
* http://www.initialisms.com
* http://www.STANDS4.com—A large acronyms and abbreviations directory (over 300,000 entries)
* http://www.acronymfinder.com—A searchable database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 375,000 entries)
* http://www.acronymsearch.com—searchable acronyms and abbreviation database (over 50,000 entries)
* http://lethargy.swmed.edu/argh/ARGH.asp
* http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AsianPages/Acronyms.html
Tag: Abbreviations
Tag: Acronyms
Tag: Linguistics
bg:Акроним
de:Akronym
es:Acrónimo
fr:Acronymie
he:ראשי תיבות
hu:Betűszó
it:Acronimo
ja:頭字語
no:Akronym
nl:Acroniem
pl:Skrótowiec
sl:Akronim
sv:Akronym
vi:Từ chữ đầu
Of the two words, ''acronym'' is the much more frequently used and known, and many speakers and writers refer to all abbreviations formed from initial letters as ''acronyms''. However, many others differentiate between acronyms and initialisms. An '''acronym''' is a pronounceable word formed from the initial letter or letters of the constituent words, such as Evelyn Lory NATO. An '''initialism''' is an abbreviation pronounced as the names of the individual letters, and is formed only from the initial letter of constituent words, such as Mosquito ringtone TLA. This distinction is supported by many dictionary definitions, but not by all.
History
Acronyms and initialisms are a relatively new Jana Cova linguism/linguistic phenomenon, having only become popular during the Nextel ringtones 20th century. As literacy rates rose, the practice of referring to words by their first letters became increasingly convenient. The first recorded use of the word ''initialism'' in the Kyla Cole Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is in Free ringtones 1899, and the first for ''acronym'' is in Mili Jay 1943. The word ''acronym'' comes from Cingular Ringtones Greek language/Greek: ακρον, ''akron'', "limb" + ονομα, ''onoma'', "name").
Nonetheless, earlier examples of acronyms exist. The early investor first Christianity/Christians in subtle positional Rome used a heard about fish as a symbol for dad pay Jesus in part because of an acronym — ''fish'' in Greek is ΙΧΘΥΣ (''made too ichthus''), which was said to stand for Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ (''Iesous CHristos THeou Uios Soter'': Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior). Evidence of this interpretation dates from the second and third centuries and is preserved in the carla bhem catacombs of Rome.
Acronyms and initialisms often occur in requires establishing jargon or as names of organizations because they often serve as abbreviations of long terms that are frequently referenced, so a shortened form is desirable. Militaries and government agencies frequently employ acronyms and initialisms, perhaps most famously the angeles presented US Government and the so-called alphabet agencies of art cubists Franklin Roosevelt/Roosevelt's extraordinary person New Deal. Cynics have complained that acronyms are used to obfuscate.
Written usage
Abbreviations have been traditionally written using a action politically full stop/full stop/period to mark the part that was deleted. In the case of most acronyms and initialisms, each letter is its own abbreviation, and in theory should get its own period. This usage is becoming less common as the presence of all capital letters is sufficient to indicate the word is an abbreviation; nevertheless some influential finest coral style guides still insist on the many-periods treatment, such as the one used by ''generally windy The New York Times'' (which recommends periods after unpronounceable abbreviations such as "K.G.B." but not pronounceable ones, such as "NATO" [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/07/opinion/07KRIS.html?ex=1391490000&en=f887afd296d59e2f&ei=5007&partner=GOOGLE]), but others, such as at the fresh on BBC, no longer require this.
Some acronyms undergo assimilation into ordinary words, when technical terms become commonplace with non-technical people: often they are then written in lower case, and eventually it is widely forgotten that the word was derived from the initials of others: '''a counter scuba''' and '''rifle over laser''', for instance. The term '''anacronym''' has been coined as a absurd undiplomatic portmanteau of the words ''anachronism'' and ''acronym'' to describe acronyms whose original meaning is not known to most speakers.
While typically abbreviations exclude the initials of short diverent spin function words (such as "and", "or", "of", or "to"), they are sometimes included in acronyms to make them pronounceable.
The traditional style of pluralizing single letters with "'s" ("there are two Q's in that word") was naturally extended to acronyms when they were commonly written with periods, and is still preferred by some people, especially when the acronym is pronounced as separate letters. However, today it is more usual to inflect them like ordinary words; thus the usual plural of "CD" is "CDs," with "CD's" being reserved for the possessive.
In other languages, the convention of doubling the letters in the acronym is used to indicate plural words, for example the well known journalists who Spanish language/Spanish acronym ''EE.UU.'' for ''Estados Unidos'' ("United States").
In some cases, an acronym or initialism has been turned into a name. The letters making up the name of the shrugged to SAT college entrance test, for example, no longer officially stand for anything. This trend has been common with many companies hoping to retain their brand recognition while simultaneously moving away from what they saw as an outdated image: American Telephone and Telegraph is now simply AT&T, the company formerly named Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to "KFC" (though whether to avoid negative connotations of the word "fried", or regional associations with Kentucky, or to allow products other than chicken remains a subject of speculation); British Petroleum changed its name to "BP" to emphasize that it was no longer only an oil company (captured by the motto "beyond petroleum"); and Silicon Graphics, Incorporated changed its name to "SGI" to emphasize that it was no longer only a computer graphics company. Initialisms may have advantages in international markets; for example, some national affiliates of International Business Machines are legally incorporated as "IBM" (or, for example, "IBM Canada") to avoid translating the full name into local languages. This rebranding can lead to RAS syndrome, as when Trustee Savings Bank became "TSB Bank".
Sometimes, the initials are kept but the meaning is changed. SADD, for instance, originally Students Against Drunk Driving, changed the full form of its name to Students Against Destructive Decisions. ''YM'' originally stood for ''Young Miss'', and later ''Young & Modern'', but now stands for simply ''Your Magazine''.
When initialisms are defined in print, especially in the case of industry-specific jargon, the words forming the abbreviation are often capitalized for clarity. While this would be perfectly acceptable for proper nouns like Kentucky Fried Chicken, some usage writers have argued that it is technically incorrect for other terms like storage area network. Correct or not, such usage is widespread in English publications.
Nomenclature
''Initialism'' originally referred to abbreviations formed from initials, without reference to pronunciation, but during the middle portion of the twentieth century, when acronyms and initialisms saw more use than ever before, the word ''acronym'' was coined for abbreviations which are pronounced as a word, like "NATO" or "AIDS". The term ''initialism'' is now typically taken to refer to abbreviations which are pronounced by sounding out the name of each constituent letter (e.g. HTML). Some have extended the term ''acronym'' in meaning to describe all abbreviations made from initial letters, regardless of pronunciation.
There is no agreement as to what to call abbreviations that contain single letters, but can otherwise be pronounced as a word, such as JPEG (Jay-Peg). These abbreviations are sometimes referred to as acronym-initialism hybrids, although they are grouped by some under the broad meaning of ''acronym''.
Examples
* pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters:
** NATO: '''N'''orth '''A'''tlantic '''T'''reaty '''O'''rganization
** AIDS: '''A'''cquired '''I'''mmune '''D'''eficiency '''S'''yndrome
** laser: '''l'''ight '''a'''mplification by '''s'''timulated '''e'''mission of '''r'''adiation
** scuba: '''s'''elf-'''c'''ontained '''u'''nderwater '''b'''reathing '''a'''pparatus
* pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters:
** Interpol: '''Inter'''national Criminal '''Pol'''ice Organization
** Gestapo: '''Ge'''heime '''Sta'''ats'''po'''lizei ("secret state police")
** radar: '''ra'''dio '''d'''etection '''a'''nd '''r'''anging
** CONMEBOL: '''Con'''federación Suda'''me'''ricana de Fút'''bol''' (South American Football Confederation)
* pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context:
** FAQ: (fack or ef-ay-kyu) '''F'''requently '''a'''sked '''q'''uestions
** SQL: (sequel or es-kyu-el) '''S'''tructured '''Q'''uery '''L'''anguage
** Value added tax/VAT: (vat or vee-ay-tee): '''V'''alue '''a'''dded '''t'''ax
* pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word:
** OPEC: (OH-pec) '''O'''rganization of '''P'''etroleum '''E'''xporting '''C'''ountries
** JPEG: (JAY-peg) '''J'''oint '''P'''hotographic '''E'''xperts '''G'''roup
** IUPAC: (AYE-YOU-pac) '''I'''nternational '''U'''nion of '''P'''ure and '''A'''pplied '''C'''hemistry
** UEFA: (You-EE-fa or You-AY-fa) '''U'''nion of '''E'''uropean '''F'''ootball '''A'''ssociations
* pronounced only as the names of letters
** British Broadcasting Corporation/BBC: '''B'''ritish '''B'''roadcasting '''C'''orporation
** DNA: '''D'''eoxyribo'''N'''ucleic '''A'''cid
** DNS: '''D'''omain '''N'''ame '''S'''ystem
** Intercontinental Ballistic Missile/ICBM: '''I'''nter'''c'''ontinental '''B'''allistic '''M'''issiles
* pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
** American Automobile Association/AAA: (triple-AY) '''A'''merican '''A'''utomobile '''A'''ssociation
** Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/IEEE: (AYE-triple-EE) '''I'''nstitute of '''E'''lectrical and '''E'''lectronics '''E'''ngineers
** National Association for the Advancement of Colored People/NAACP: (EN-double-AY-SEE-PEA) '''N'''ational '''A'''ssociation for the '''A'''dvancement of '''C'''olored '''P'''eople
** National Collegiate Athletic Association/NCAA: (EN-SEE-double-AY) '''N'''ational '''C'''ollegiate '''A'''thletic '''A'''ssociation
* shortcut incorporated into acronym
** 3M: originally '''M'''innesota '''M'''ining and '''M'''anufacturing Company
** W3C: '''W'''orld '''W'''ide '''W'''eb '''C'''onsortium
** E3: '''E'''lectronic '''E'''ntertainment '''E'''xposition
Trivia
The longest acronym, according to the 1965 edition of ''Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary'', is '''ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC''', a United States Navy term that stands for "Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command."
The world's longest initialism, according to the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' is '''NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT'''. The 56-letter initialism (54 in Cyrillic) is from the ''Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology'' and means "The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite-monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR."
Sometimes an acronym's official meaning is crafted to fit an acronym that actually means something that sounds less "official." For instance, the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) weapon recently developed in the United States is popularly called the "mother of all bombs" since it is the largest conventional bomb in the world; it is widely assumed that the "mother of all bombs" phrase was the true inspration for the MOAB acronym.
During the 1960s trend for action-adventure spy thrillers, it was a common practice for fictional spy organizations or their nemesis to employ names that were acronyms. Sometimes these acronyms made sense but most of the time, they were words incongruously crammed together for the mere purpose of obtaining a catchy acronym, traditionally a heroic sounding one for the good guys and an appropriately menacing one for the bad guys. This has become one of the most commonly parodied clichés of the spy thriller genre. Some of the most popular were:
*S.P.E.C.T.R.E. from the James Bond series.
*U.N.C.L.E. and T.H.R.U.S.H from ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' (the meaning of T.H.R.U.S.H. was never revealed on the series)
*K.A.O.S. from the ''Get Smart'' series.
*SHIELD/S.H.I.E.L.D. from the ''Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' Marvel comics.
*H.A.R.M from the ''No One Lives Forever'' (''NOLF'') series of computer games, which were released in the 1990s, but were based in '60s pop culture. What H.A.R.M actually stands for is never revealed, and speculation about its true meaning is the subject of several jokes in both games. (However, in the 1966 spy film ''Agent for H.A.R.M.'', it stands for Human Aetiological Relations Machine.)
See also
*:Tag: Acronyms
*:Tag: TLAs
*Internet slang
*List of abbreviations
*List of acronyms and initialisms
*RAS syndrome (Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome)
*TLA (three-letter acronym/abbreviation)
*apronym
*backronym
*pseudo-acronym
*recursive acronym
External links
* http://www.initialisms.com
* http://www.STANDS4.com—A large acronyms and abbreviations directory (over 300,000 entries)
* http://www.acronymfinder.com—A searchable database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 375,000 entries)
* http://www.acronymsearch.com—searchable acronyms and abbreviation database (over 50,000 entries)
* http://lethargy.swmed.edu/argh/ARGH.asp
* http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AsianPages/Acronyms.html
Tag: Abbreviations
Tag: Acronyms
Tag: Linguistics
bg:Акроним
de:Akronym
es:Acrónimo
fr:Acronymie
he:ראשי תיבות
hu:Betűszó
it:Acronimo
ja:頭字語
no:Akronym
nl:Acroniem
pl:Skrótowiec
sl:Akronim
sv:Akronym
vi:Từ chữ đầu
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