# Acronyms
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 14, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267 "2008-05-14T12:01:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DellieM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DellieM)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/1 "2008-05-14T12:01:18Z")
Sorry for the all the capitals - they kind of fit the word game. Now tonight my neighbour asked me what does TARDIS stand for. I said Time And Relative Dimensions In Space (I’m sure I’m wrong), but then I threw SCUBA back to him. What world-wide or quirky acronyms do my Dopers have?
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/2 "2008-05-14T12:32:43Z")
Your TARDIS expansion is correct.
The man from UNCLE United Network Command for Law Enforcement used to fight THRUSH Technological Heirarchy for Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity .
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/3 "2008-05-14T12:53:22Z")
When I was a kid, my **How and Why Book of Robots and Computers** had one of the most unlikely and twisted and convoluted acronyms I’d ever seen. It was for a robot device to study whales in their natural habitat. I think it must have been someone’s pipe dream, because it looked unworkable with 1960s technology, and I’ve never seen anything else about it, even in recent internet searches. I HAD to memorize it.:
\*\*MODY-DIC
Motorized Observation Biotelemetry Yacht – Data Integration and Control\*\*.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/4 "2008-05-14T14:33:32Z")
Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.
Computerized Humanoid Electronically Enhanced Secret Enforcer
Joe
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/5 "2008-05-14T14:49:58Z")
TWAIN – Technology Without An Interesting Name (though [someone involved](http://jimmoy.com/index.php/2006/03/10/origin-of-twain/) says it originally was derived from “The spec Without An Interesting Name.”)
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### Author:  [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/6 "2008-05-14T15:13:52Z")
\*\*TLA \*\*- Three Letter Acronym
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/7 "2008-05-14T15:29:10Z")
ETLA - Extended Three-Letter Acronym (The company I work for has actually used this acronym, believe it or not.).
INTERCAL - Compiler Language With No Pronounceable Acronym. (Yes, the acronym is a joke…and so is the language.)
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### Author:  [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/8 "2008-05-14T15:49:53Z")
I was always fond of IBM’s acronymn, EBCDIC (we pronounced it as EBB-suh-dick): extended binary coded decimal interchange code. There was something about having the word ‘code’ in there twice, combined with both binary and decimal that just amused me. Besides, it’s extended! It must be NEW! and IMPROVED! Now featuring MORE BITS!
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### Author:  [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/9 "2008-05-14T17:15:47Z")
Slight nitpick:
**glee** , I believe your first one is “Law _and_ Enforcement”.
From the medical field, we have:
CABG (pronounced “cabbage”): Coronary Artery Bypass Graft
GOMER (bedridden, non-responsive, vent-dependent, generally vegetative patient): Get Out Of My Emergency Room
TIPPS (procedure for removing varicose veins): Trans-Illuminated Powered Phlebectomy
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### Author:  [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/10 "2008-05-14T18:48:29Z")
The guys in our hardware support group had an interesting one. Every once in a while, I’d get a case from them warning me about a possible PEBKAS. I figured it was some obscure networking terminology so I asked.
Turns out that it’s short for “Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Seat”.
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### Author:  [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/11 "2008-05-14T19:08:21Z")
I made one up - BETA - Bugs Exist, Testing Arbitrary
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/12 "2008-05-14T19:11:57Z")
In the advent of yuppies (Young, Urban or Upwardly mobile Professionals) there was a vogue for joke socio-economic categories such as Guppies, Buppies, Dinkies (Dual Income, No Kids), and rather contrived ones like LOMBARD (Lots Of Money But A Right Dickhead, popular in London financial circles where the word Lombard already had some significance).
I always liked NIMBY, too. Somehow, it just sounds right for that kind of attitude.
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### Author:  [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/13 "2008-05-14T19:16:13Z")
define NIMBY please
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### Author:  [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/14 "2008-05-14T19:20:30Z")
Some of the ones I learned in an EMS class many years ago. I’ve heard many of them used on the various CSI shows in recent years.
AHF - Acute Hissy Fit
AQR - Ain’t Quite Right
FDGB - Fall Down Go Boom
DRT - Dead Right There
DFO - Done Fell Over
DOB - Dead On Bed
FTD - Fixin’ To Die
PBS - Pretty Bad Shape
RTC - Ready To Croak
SIO - Sleeping It Off
TSL - Too Stupid to Live
WUD - Woke Up Dead
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### Author:  [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/15 "2008-05-14T19:23:07Z")
[QUOTE=anyrose]
define NIMBY please
[/QUOTE]
Not in MY back yard.
The usual response when some project that will be for the betterment of the community as a whole is presented. Everyone loves the idea but put it someplace else, please.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/16 "2008-05-14T19:29:34Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine]
Some of the ones I learned in an EMS class many years ago. I’ve heard many of them used on the various CSI shows in recent years.
AHF - Acute Hissy Fit
AQR - Ain’t Quite Right
FDGB - Fall Down Go Boom
DRT - Dead Right There
DFO - Done Fell Over
DOB - Dead On Bed
FTD - Fixin’ To Die
PBS - Pretty Bad Shape
RTC - Ready To Croak
SIO - Sleeping It Off
TSL - Too Stupid to Live
WUD - Woke Up Dead
[/QUOTE]
Yes, but those are not acronyms. 🙂
Well, “WUD” and “DOB” could be. An acronym is when you pronounce it as a word; if you say the letters, it’s just an abbreviation (I’ve heard it called an “initialism” too, but I don’t know if that’s really a word.) “NATO” (invariably said “NAY-toe”) is an acronym. “EMS” isn’t.
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/17 "2008-05-14T19:30:54Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine]
Some of the ones I learned in an EMS class many years ago. I’ve heard many of them used on the various CSI shows in recent years.
AHF - Acute Hissy Fit
AQR - Ain’t Quite Right
FDGB - Fall Down Go Boom
DRT - Dead Right There
DFO - Done Fell Over
DOB - Dead On Bed
FTD - Fixin’ To Die
PBS - Pretty Bad Shape
RTC - Ready To Croak
SIO - Sleeping It Off
TSL - Too Stupid to Live
WUD - Woke Up Dead
[/QUOTE]
These are not acronyms. An acronym has to be pronounceable as a word, and is actually pronounced that way. If you spell it out letter by letter it is an abbreviation, not an acronym. [/pedant]
Edit: I \*hate \*it when someone gets there just before me.
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### Author:  [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/18 "2008-05-14T19:35:43Z")
I hope that I haven’t FUBAR’ed the thread for all time. That type of SNAFU would weigh heavily on my shoulders.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/19 "2008-05-14T19:57:02Z")
SCMODS is my favorite fictional acronym - State, County, Municipal Offender Database System.
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/20 "2008-05-14T20:03:42Z")
It may be an UL, but it’s said that sometime in the 1960’s the BBC briefly had a post called “Assistant Regional Sound Engineer”. The job title was changed when it was realised what the acronym was.
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