Talk:List of acronyms/Archive 2

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Archive 1

Archive 2

This is an intermediate list for checking purposes only. This is derived from the list of acronyms with only the initial " - " replaced with " - (a) ".

This list was then merged with the intermediate list of initialisms to create the new list of acronyms and initialisms.

On a personal note I couldn't help noticing there are several entries here that really need cleaning, deleting, moving. But I will leave that to others!

This is a list of acronyms that are pronounceable words. This list does not include initialisms, acronyms whose pronunciation is wholly or partly the names of constituent letters. (see list of initialisms)

Please add your own, in alphabetical order.

ACCAC - (a) Awdurdod Cymwysterau, Cwricwlwm ac Asesu Cymru (Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales)
ADS - (a) Astrophysics Data System, Attention Deficit Syndrome
AIDS - (a) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Algol - (a) Algorithmic language
ANA - (a) All Nippon Airways, anti-nuclear anti-body
ANSI - (a) American National Standards Institute
ANZAC - (a) Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
ASAP - (a) as soon as possible
ASCII - (a) American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASCAP - (a) American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
ASFAR - (a) Americans for a Society Free of Age Restrictions
AWACS - (a) Airborne Warning and Control System
AWOL - (a) Absent Without Official Leave (military jargon)

BAR - (a) Buy American Restrictions
BART - (a) Bay Area Rapid Transit
BASE - (a) as in BASE jumping - Building, Antenna, Span, Earthform (or Earth)
BASIC - (a) Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, acronym was added later, originally it was simply Basic
BIOS - (a) basic input/output system
BOAT - (a) Byway Open to All Traffic (pronounced as 2 syllables, Bo-At)
BOHICA - (a) Bend Over Here It Comes Again
BODMAS - (a) Brackets, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction
BWARS - (a) Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society

CAD - (a) Computer Aided Design
CALABARZON - (a) a region in the Philippines: Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (not an acronym in the strictest sense)
CBE - (a) Commander of the Order of the British Empire
CENTO - (a) Central Treaty Organization (Baghdad Pact)
CERN - (a) Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire
CBC - (a) Cipher Block Chaining* COBOL - Common Business-Oriented Language
COD - (a) Cash On Delivery
COLA - (a) cost of living adjustment - comp.os.linux.announce
CREEP - (a) Committee to Re-elect the President
DBE - (a) Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
DIMM - (a) Dual In-line Memory Module (computing)
DINK - (a) Double income, no kids
DIP - (a) dual in-line package (electronics)
DOI - (a) Digital Object Identifier
DOS - (a) Density of State / Disk Operating System / Denial of Service

EPCOT - (a) Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

FARC - (a) Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
FEMA - (a) Federal Emergency Management Agency
FIFA - (a) Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Association Football Federation)
FIDE - (a) The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (World Chess Foundation)
FIFO - (a) First In First Out
Fortran - (a) Formula Translator
FUBAR - (a) Fucked (or Fouled) Up Beyond All Recognition
FUD - (a) Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (marketing strategy)
FSC - (a) Forest Stewardship Council (an ecological pressure group)

GBE - (a) Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Gestapo - (a) GEheime STAtsPOlizei ("secret state police")
GIGO - (a) Garbage In Garbage Out
GIMP - (a) GNU Image Manipulation Program
GLAAD - (a) Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
GNOME - (a) GNU Network Object Model Environment
GNU - (a) GNU's Not Unix
GOMER - (a) Get Out of My Emergency Room (derogatory reference to hypochondriac patients)
grep - (a) (search) globally for regular expression, print (lines)
GUI - (a) Graphical User Interface (pronounced goo-ey)
Gulag - (a) Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh LAGerei

HALO - (a) High Altitude Low Opening (type of a parachute jump)

IATA - (a) International Air Transport Association
ISCII - (a) Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange
Interpol - (a/p) International Criminal Police Organization
IUPAC - (a) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (pronounced Yoo-Pac)

JAG - (a) Judge Advocate General (US military lawyers)
JAL - (a) Japan Airlines
JATO - (a) Jet Assisted Takeoff Unit
Jeb Bush - (a) John Ellis Bush
Jeb Stuart - (a) James Ewell Brown (Stuart's given names)
JPEG - (a) Joint Photographic Experts Group
KBE - (a) Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

KARNAC - (a) Knowledge Aided Retrieval in Activity Context
KISS - (a) Keep it simple stupid

LAN - (a) Local Area Network
Laser - (a) Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
LIFO - (a) Last in, first out
LUCA - (a) Last Universal Common Ancestor

MAD - (a) magnetic anomaly detector - mutual assured destruction
MADD - (a) Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Myoadenylate deaminase deficiency
Maser - (a) Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
MASH - (a) mobile army surgical hospital
MBE - (a) Member of the Order of the British Empire
MILF - (a) Mother I'd Like To Fuck, Moro Islamic Liberation Front
MIMAROPA - (a) a region in the Philippines: Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan
MIP - (a) Multiple Identity Poster
MOAB - (a) mother of all bombs
MOPE - (a) Most Oppressed People Ever (politics)
MPEG - (a) Motion Pictures (Coding) Experts Group

NAAFI - (a) Navy, Army and Air Force Institute (British)
NAMBLA - (a) North American Man-Boy Love Association - National Associaton of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes
NARAL - (a) National Abortion Rights Action League
NASA - (a) National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASCAR - (a) National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
Nasdaq - (a) National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
NATO - (a) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NIMBY - (a) Not In My Back Yard
NOAA - (a) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NORAD - (a) North American Aerospace Defense Command
NORML - (a) National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
NOTAFLOF - (a) No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds
NOW - (a) National Organization for Women
NUCC(C) - (a) Nordic University Computer Club (Conference)
NUTS - (a) Nuclear Utilization Target Selection
NYRA - (a) National Youth Rights Association; also New York Racing Association (horse racing)

OBE - (a) Office of the Order of the British Empire
OPAC - (a) Online Public Access Catalogue
OPEC - (a) Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries

Pakistan - (a) Punjab, Afghan States, Kashmir, Sindh, Baluchistan
PAL - (a) Phase Alternating Line (TV standard)
PAL - (a) Philippine Airlines
PARC - (a) Palo Alto Research Center
PARWIG - (a) Power Augmented Ram Wing in Ground (aeroplane wing shape)
PETA - (a) pentaerythritol triacrylate - People Eating Tasty Animals - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
PITA - (a) Pain In The Ass
POG - (a) Passionfruit, Orange and Guava
POTS - (a) Plain Old Telephone Service, also PANS - Pretty Advanced (or Awsome) Network Services - Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome

Qantas - (a) Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
QDOS - (a) Quick and Dirty Operating System
Quango - (a) (British Commonwealth) QUasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation
Quasar - (a) Quasi-stellar radio source

Radar - (a) Radio detection and ranging
RAM - (a) Random Access Memory, Royal Air Maroc
REACT - (a) Remote Electronically Activated Control Technology
ROM - (a) Read Only Memory

SALT - (a) Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
SAM - (a) sequential-access memory - surface-to-air missile - Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín
SAVAK - (a) Sazamane Etelaat va Amniate Kechvar (Iranian Security and Intelligence Service)
SARS - (a) Severe acute respiratory syndrome
SCRAM - (a) safety control rod axe man
SCSI (technically pronounced "scuzzy") - (a) small computer system interface
Scuba - (a) Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
SEATO - (a) Southeast Asian Treaty Organization
SECAM - (a) Systeme Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire (TV standard)
SETI - (a) Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
SIMM - (a) single in-line memory module
SIMPLE - (a) Satellite Interactive Multimedia Platform for Low-cost Earth Stations
SLORC - (a) The State Law and Order Restoration Council (of Burma)
SNAFU - (a) Situation Normal—All Fucked (or Fouled) Up
SNOBOL - (a) StriNg Oriented symBOlic Language
SOCCSKSARGEN - (a) a region in the Philippines: South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos City (pronounced sock-sar-gen)
Sonar - (a) Sound navigation and ranging
Stuka - (a) Sturzkampfflugzeug (Diving Warplane)
SWAT - (a) Special Weapons And Tactics
SWOT - (a) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

TANJ - (a) There Ain't No Justice
TANSTAAFL - (a) There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (from Robert A. Heinlein)
TEAL - (a) Tasman Empire Airways Limited
TEETH - (a) Tried Everything Else, Try Homoeopathy (medical diagnosis in-joke)
TOS - (a) Terms of Service; Tape Operating System
TUG - (a) TeX Users Group

UNESCO - (a) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF - (a) United Nations Children's Fund, originally United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
UNIDO - (a) United Nations Industrial Development Organization
UNIFEM - (a) United Nations Fund for Women
UNPROFOR - (a) United Nations Protection Force
URL - (a) Uniform Resource Locator (when pronounced as earl)

WAN - (a) Wide Area Network
WASP - (a) white anglo-saxon protestant
WHO - (a) World Health Organisation
WYSIWYG - (a) What You See Is What You Get

XrML - (a) eXtensible Rights Markup Language

Yippie - (a) Youth International Party + suffix
Yuppie - (a) Young Urban Professional + suffix

ZIP code - (a) Zoning Improvement Plan

Words that may not be acronyms, but folk etymology says that they are:

Fuck - (a) Fornication under consent of the king or for unlawful carnal knowledge
Golf - (a) Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden
News - (a) North, east, west and south (a mnemonic)
Posh - (a) Port out, starboard home
Rap - (a) Rhythm and poetry (AFAIK: Rhythmical African Poetry)
Tips - (a) To insure prompt service
Pom - (a) (Australian English) Prisoner of His Majesty

External links

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