# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/41 "2006-08-11T00:17:18Z")
Interestingly (OK Boringly 🙂 ) BLOB didn’t stand for anything originaly, it was just a blob of data, Binary Large OBject came about as a later date. wiki has the story [Binary large object - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_large_object) ---
**Author:** ![Defective\_Detective](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Defective\_Detective](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defective_Detective)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/42 "2006-08-11T00:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=Myron Van Horowitzski] GED: General Education Diploma, right? Nope, it’s General Educational Development. [/QUOTE] No, no, you guys got it all wrong. GED: Good Enough Degree. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/43 "2006-08-11T00:50:57Z")
Sort of related–I’ve been to \*three \* different professional trainings on HIPAA standards where “HIPAA” was misspelled “HIPPA” (what they thought it stands for, I don’t know) and EVERY POWERPOINT SLIDE had a picture of a HIPPO on it. Every new slide made me want to stand up and scream, “It’s not HIPPA! It’s HIPAA! Your little HIPPO joke is not only stupid, it makes no sense!” I mentioned it to one presenter afterward, and she just looked at me with her dull little eyes in a way that made it clear that she had no idea what I was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/44 "2006-08-11T01:23:40Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] “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”. [/QUOTE] Except that they may have changed their actual company name from “Internationale Nederlanden Groep” to ING. Thus, no redundancy. I worked at a place once where a bank known as The National Bank of Detroit was on one occasion publically referred to as “The National Bank of Detroit”. All the bank’s branches had big signs and logos all over the place that had always read: “NBD”, and indeed it _was_ “The National Bank of Detroit” that had established these branches in our city. But unbeknowst to our employees, the whizboys in the bank’s marketing (and/or legal) department has recently changed the name to NBD. We received an angry letter telling us that “The National Bank of Detroit” was \*not \* \*\*their name, it was now “NBD”, and please make sure to never make that mistake again. I think KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) plays the same game. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/45 "2006-08-11T02:01:02Z")
SOS doesn’t mean “save our souls” - it actually doesn’t mean anything at all. (I always thought that NCR stood for No Carbon Required) > **[NCR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCR)** > > NCR may refer to: ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/46 "2006-08-11T02:07:11Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] SOS doesn’t mean “save our souls” - it actually doesn’t mean anything at all. (I always thought that NCR stood for No Carbon Required) > **[NCR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCR)** > > NCR may refer to: [/QUOTE] I was taught SOS was “Save our Ship”. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/47 "2006-08-11T02:15:03Z")
I’ve never served in the military, but there is a useful acronym that I’ve heard sometimes, probably a bit of an inside thing: HMFWIC. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/48 "2006-08-11T02:16:43Z")
And yes, I do know what it means: Head Mother Fucker What’s In Charge ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/49 "2006-08-11T02:47:54Z")
And don’t forget BOHICA- bend over, here it comes again! ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/50 "2006-08-11T02:48:58Z")
And REMF- rear-echelon motherfucker. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/51 "2006-08-11T03:02:05Z")
Parents of college age kids know all about the FASFA – except that it’s the FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid. However, “FASFA” is easier to pronounce. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/52 "2006-08-11T03:37:52Z")
Um, people, this thread is about acronymns that people often get the wrong meaning for. Just listing random acronyms is definitely OT (which does not stand for Old Tesatament in this context) ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/53 "2006-08-11T04:04:47Z")
And all good war stories begin with TINS or NSTRH (this is no shit, and no shit, this really happened). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/54 "2006-08-11T04:06:58Z")
he said, ignoring the preceeding post. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/55 "2006-08-11T13:51:50Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > PL/SQL is Oracle’s Procedural Language extensions for SQL (Structured Query Language) > > A BLOB is a Binary Large OBject and a CLOB is a Character Large OBject. > [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Interestingly (OK Boringly ) BLOB didn’t stand for anything originaly, it was just a blob of data, Binary Large OBject came about as a later date. wiki has the story [Object storage - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_large_object) So clearly the less-than-hairy know the most about BLOBs and CLOBs. [QUOTE=RealityChuck] Parents of college age kids know all about the FASFA – except that it’s the FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid. However, “FASFA” is easier to pronounce. [/QUOTE] I’ve always heard it pronounced FAFSA. > [@Peter Morris](#): > > Um, people, this thread is about acronymns that people often get the wrong meaning for. Just listing random acronyms is definitely OT (which does not stand for Old Tesatament in this context) It’s “obviously terrific”? Wonderful; my previous posts can stand. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/56 "2006-08-11T13:55:32Z")
I’m always amazed by the number of people that refer to Toronto’s CN Tower (Canadian National) as the CNN Tower. They not only don’t know what it stands for, they even get the initials wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/57 "2006-08-11T14:16:56Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Situation Normal, All Fucked-Up [/QUOTE] They sneaked that one past the censor in, of all things, the _Beezer_ (English kids’ comic) Annual in the mid-1960s. In a written story (kids’ annuals used to have these) called _The Arch of Time_ the hero found himself in 2065 and saw an advertisement for the new year’s model of computer: “Don’t be satisfied with last year’s model! Get the XYZT-2065 from Snafoo Electric!”. The word went way over my head as an innocent prepubescent, but obviously it stuck. 😃 Many people think R.I.P. stands for “Rest In Peace”. That’s a colloquial translation of _Requiescat in pace_, but my Latin teacher would have insisted on translating the verb correctly: May (s)he rest in peace. ---
**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 11, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/58 "2006-08-11T15:49:41Z")
A neighbor told me that the scroll over Jesus’ head on the crucifix – **INRI** – stood for “I’m Nailed Right In”. It was a joke, of course – most people (including him, I;m sure) don’t know the real meaning, because they never tell you. Unfortunately, when he started the joke by asking me what it stood for, I ruined it, because I did – “Iesu Nazoreorum Rex Iudeorum” – “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/59 "2006-08-11T16:05:31Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] “Iesu Nazoreorum Rex Iudeorum” – “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” [/QUOTE] You shouldn’t have written that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834/60 "2006-08-11T16:31:43Z")
Last sounds from the Space Shuttle’s black box recorder : “Oh, let her drive then” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-that-dont-mean-what-most-many-some-people-think-they-mean/367834.md?page=4)