# Acronyms that don't mean what most(/many/some) people \*think\* they mean. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834 "2006-08-08T08:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/1 "2006-08-08T08:23:53Z")
MOT Test (this is a test of road-worthiness to which vehicles are subject in the UK) - When people say “MOT Test”, they are sometimes informed that they have committed a redundant acronym offence; i.e. “It’s not MO **T** Test, it’s just MOT”. but the T doesn’t stand for _Test_; MOT means Ministry Of Transport. DVD - I was going to say that many people think it’s Digital Video Disc, but the V stands for _Versatile_, but this appears to be something that was in dispute from the very start and has never been resolved one way or the other. NASA - I’ve heard at least a few (non American) people say this stood for North American Space Agency (I think perhaps this is what most people would guess it to be if they didn’t know otherwise), but it is of course _National Aeronautics and Space Administration_. But there must be other acronyms that don’t mean what most/many/some people think they do (and I’m not really including the false-acronym-etymology of words like Posh); what are they? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/2 "2006-08-08T12:01:57Z")
**IWW** – A lot of people seem to think it stands for International Workers of the World, but that’s redundundant. It’s _Industrial_ Workers of the World. Neal Stephenson says in his afterword to _Snow Crash_ that he though **BIOS** was Built In Operating System, but his many critiquers corrected him to Basic Input/Output System. But he still kept the original for the book. ---
**Author:** ![jmasterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@jmasterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmasterson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/3 "2006-08-08T12:32:02Z")
Help me out please…, in **General Questions** , llRl and AFAlK were often used in the topic “why is the movie The Wizard of Oz associated with gay culture?” What do those acronyms mean? I’m new at this. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/4 "2006-08-08T12:41:06Z")
IRL =In Real Life (i.e. not on the internet) AFAIK = As Far As I Know ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/5 "2006-08-08T13:54:02Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] DVD - I was going to say that many people think it’s Digital Video Disc, but the V stands for _Versatile_, but this appears to be something that was in dispute from the very start and has never been resolved one way or the other. [/quote] It _was_ known as Digital Video Disc in its original incarnation – when that’s all they were used for and there was no such thing as a DVD burner. It wasn’t until the advent of burners that the name was changed to the awkward Digital Versatile Disc, in order to emphasize that it could be used for storing any type of data and not just video. (Also to eliminate confusion over DVD audio discs) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/6 "2006-08-08T13:58:28Z")
I know one very proper religious lady who used the word _snafu_ until I told her what it was an acronym for. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/7 "2006-08-08T13:59:26Z")
[QUOTE=Mindfield] It _was_ known as Digital Video Disc in its original incarnation – when that’s all they were used for and there was no such thing as a DVD burner. It wasn’t until the advent of burners that the name was changed to the awkward Digital Versatile Disc, in order to emphasize that it could be used for storing any type of data and not just video. (Also to eliminate confusion over DVD audio discs) [/QUOTE] Understood, it’s just that by now, the new ‘versatile’ name was supposed to be the real one, but the process of changing it stalled. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/8 "2006-08-08T14:00:28Z")
**AIG,** the acronymic name of a local insurance company, doesn’t stand for Automobile Insurance Group. It stands for Automobile Insurance Program. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/9 "2006-08-08T14:03:27Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] **AIG,** the acronymic name of a local insurance company, doesn’t stand for Automobile Insurance Group. It stands for Automobile Insurance Program. :dubious: [/QUOTE] What, in another language or something? ---
**Author:** ![theunfounddoor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@theunfounddoor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theunfounddoor)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/10 "2006-08-08T14:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] I know one very proper religious lady who used the word _snafu_ until I told her what it was an acronym for. [/QUOTE] Oh, what’s it stand for? I’m assuming it must be dirty or something if she wouldn’t use it any more. I know that’s the name of one of my favorite games for the Atari system from when I was little. (It’s that game most cell phones have now called Snake, but way cooler) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/11 "2006-08-08T14:14:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Understood, it’s just that by now, the new ‘versatile’ name was supposed to be the real one, but the process of changing it stalled. [/QUOTE] Probably because “versatile” is contrived and sounds silly. That, and nobody cares anymore since everyone already knows what DVD is about without having to expand the acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/12 "2006-08-08T14:16:57Z")
[QUOTE=theunfounddoor] Oh, what’s it stand for? I’m assuming it must be dirty or something if she wouldn’t use it any more. I know that’s the name of one of my favorite games for the Atari system from when I was little. (It’s that game most cell phones have now called Snake, but way cooler) 😉 [/QUOTE] Situation Normal, All Fucked-Up ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/13 "2006-08-08T14:26:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by theunfounddoor > Oh, what’s it stand for? I’m assuming it must be dirty or something if she wouldn’t use it any more. I know that’s the name of one of my favorite games for the Atari system from when I was little. (It’s that game most cell phones have now called Snake, but way cooler) > > Situation Normal, All Fucked-Up As Allen Sherman recalled it in his wildly funny book **The Rape of the A_P_E** \*, "Even the Army Situation Reports were obscene, citing SNAFU as the chief example ("Back home, he noted, newspapers cleaned it up as _Situation Normal, All Fouled Up_). and listed others: JANFU – Joint Army-Navy Fuck Up FUBAR – Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition I always thought, by the way, that it was originally Digitral Video Disc, and that Digital Versatile Disc came out when they wanted to emphasize that you could use the disc for other purposes than storing video. Similar, perhaps, to the way that Hewlitt-Packard’s HPIB (Hewlitt-Packard Interface Bus) becaume generalized to the industry-wide GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus). But I could be wrong. By the way, It was _years_ before I learned that “BNC” cables were originally named for Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, the original manufacturer. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/14 "2006-08-08T14:26:11Z")
[QUOTE=theunfounddoor] Oh, what’s it stand for? [/QUOTE] Also, FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Repair JANFU - Joint Army-Navy Fuck Up ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/15 "2006-08-08T14:28:23Z")
Curse you **Cal** and **Annie**! I wrote the explanation of FUBAR, but saw on preview that Annie had beat me to it, so I added the FUBAR/JANFU stuff and by then Cal beat me to it. Grumble, grumble. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/16 "2006-08-08T14:28:43Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] **AIG,** the acronymic name of a local insurance company, doesn’t stand for Automobile Insurance Group. It stands for Automobile Insurance Program. :dubious: [/QUOTE] According to their website, it stands for “American International Group”. [http://www.aig.com/gateway/aboutaig/1-70-0-0-5-index.htm](http://www.aig.com/gateway/aboutaig/1-70-0-0-5-index.htm) YMMV ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/17 "2006-08-08T14:38:15Z")
And since I was curious about ING, I found this from their web page: “The merger into Internationale Nederlanden Group took place in 1991. The market soon abbreviated the name to I-N-G. The company followed suit by changing the statutory name to ING Groep N.V. Since 1991, ING has developed from a Dutch company with some international business to a multinational with Dutch roots.” Assuming that _Groep_ in Dutch translates to Group in English, then they are in essence “International Netherlands Group Group”. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/18 "2006-08-08T14:44:37Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] By the way, It was _years_ before I learned that “BNC” cables were originally named for Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, the original manufacturer. [/QUOTE] From [this site](http://www.marvac.com/fun/rf_information.aspx#BNC): > [@](#): > > BNC (Bayonet Neill Concelman) > > Invented by and named after Amphenol Engineer Carl Concelman and Bell Labs Engineer Paul Neill and was developed in the late 1940’s. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/19 "2006-08-08T14:45:38Z")
I’ve always loved the word “snafu”–a perfect description of a situation the English language had no previous word for. It even sounds like what it means. Peg Bracken once presented that myth that the “F-word” is an acroymn, but then stated it was a good thing the word was invented, because without it “The military woudn’t be able to communicate at all.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/20 "2006-08-08T14:56:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham > By the way, It was years before I learned that “BNC” cables were originally named for Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, the original manufacturer. > > From this site: > Quote: > BNC (Bayonet Neill Concelman) > > Invented by and named after Amphenol Engineer Carl Concelman and Bell Labs Engineer Paul Neill and was developed in the late 1940’s. see – clearly _another_ case of someone mistaking the real meaning. Only this timer it’s me. BNC _did_ make BNC cables in the 1960s and 1970s. Is it possible thwey took their name from the already-existing acronym? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834.md?page=2)