By Linda Shaffer
I have to address this issue. Why? In our lifetimes, things have gotten out of hand. It’s possible our grandparents and great grandparents and their parents said the same darned thing. Acronyms have been around forever. Even the Romans used them. Apparently humans like to create words and glorious titles for people, places and things. Then they set out to find ways to shorten them. This applies to all of the people on our planet and their languages.
An acronym is formed from the first letters of a name. It uses capital letters so is called a high name. Sometimes those letters get mixed with other letters in the words. Confused? Me too. Let’s look at WASP. This is a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant. In 1933’s Germany, Gestapo was Geheime Staatspolizei…secret state police. The term RSVP is based on the French words respondez s’l vous plait. Please reply. I was told this meant “reply so very promptly” in English. Not so.
The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) was born in the 20s during some of our parents’ lifetimes. Those three letters and two world wars brought an onslaught of new acronyms because all governments need to find ways to abbreviate things. If you don’t know who FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) was, you’re probably not a Geezer. His picture hung over my grandparents’ bed. They had eight children. No acronym for this one.
We grew up with USSR, CIA , CBS, NBC , ABC , CARE (originally after WWII Cooperative for Remittances to Europe; now Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere) and all sorts of intimidating things that sounded like code. One James Bond movie would have moved us into a whole new realm of letters which meant things we didn’t know about. The wars in Korea and Viet Nam did the same. Some of those new acronyms crept into our language. Radar (Radio Detecting and Ranging) is one of those. Sonar (Sound Navigation Ranging) is too. Scuba? You betcha. It’s “Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.” Humvee? It’s a stretch to get to a “high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle.” If you don’t know what WIFI stands for, you’re probably like me. I had to look it up. It is the first two letters of the words wireless fidelity, combined for your pleasure as this wonder of connectivity finds your internet for you. I’m guessing that they ended up using this very popular term because the letters W and F were already taken. There are many acronyms I can’t repeat here for obvious reasons. I’ll let you create your own list while I sit here and laugh.
There is an old one that I really like. CREEP. That would have been the “Committee for the Re-Election of the President.” In 1972 this was a Nixon think tank creation. Once it caught on, they tried to change it to CRP but couldn’t escape. Not sure about you, but neither one of them sounds very cool to me. Right on.
OK. I love this one. I use it a lot. According to Associated Press, the word okay is not a good substitute. Everything is just OK. No periods. No commas, no messing around. Not enough history to settle the argument about these two letters is available. But lovers of words have been fighting over its history and relevance for years. How can you not like this? OK is my favorite acronym.
My least favorite? POTUS. If you are incapable or too lazy to say the words, “President of the United States of America,” I do not think you should command my respect as a journalist or commentator. The person who leads this country deserves more than an acronym to describe what they represent. No matter who holds this job, it is critical to each of us as Americans and to the world we live in. Democracy is one of the few things left that all of us share and can take pride in. Doesn’t matter what your politics are. We’re all in. We have to be because its ours.
No, I did not get on a soap box because I would have fallen off and couldn’t have finished this. Yes, I know some of you are thinking of new acronyms. Me? I’m SOL if I just made you PO’D.
Have a great week my friends!
