# Acronyms **URL:** \ **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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [May 15, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/41 "2008-05-15T19:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=glee] 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 . [/QUOTE] And James Bond used to fight SPECTRE **SP** ecial **E** xecutive for **C** ounter-espionage **T** errorism **R** evenge and **E** xtortion ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/42 "2008-05-15T19:46:12Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] explain, please 😕 [/QUOTE] **OtakuLoki** used _squids_ to mean “sailors”. SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked\* Up) has a tradition of use by all branches of the military, and is likely to have been coined by a service member [around the start of the Second World War.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAFU) - or “fouled”, according to “family-friendly” reference works ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/43 "2008-05-15T19:49:59Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] explain, please 😕 [/QUOTE] There are two conflicting versions of SNAFU. The one most people are familiar with is “Situation Normal: All Fucked Up,” but the way I’d heard it the phrase originated in the US Navy, as “Situation **Navy** : All Fucked Up.” Alas, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAFU) doesn’t support that interpretation, and instead claims it’s an Army phrase. Either way, we’re talking about a population that is known for using colorful language in any circumstance. On preview- beaten to the punch by **Sternvogel**! ---
**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:** [May 15, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/44 "2008-05-15T20:00:32Z")
OIC Never heard sailors called squids before. But I did know the origin of SNAFU (and FUBAR) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/45 "2008-05-15T20:13:00Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] And James Bond used to fight SPECTRE **SP** ecial **E** xecutive for **C** ounter-espionage **T** errorism **R** evenge and **E** xtortion [/QUOTE] In the James Bond RPG, for legal reasons, it was **T** echnological **A** ccession, **R** evenge, and **O** rganized **T** errorism. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/46 "2008-05-15T21:22:15Z")
My favourite was the pressure group, Aroused Citizens Representing Oppressed New York Minorities. There was also a mediaeval re-enactment group I ran into once, the South Coast Unaffiliated Mercenaries Battle Action Group. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/47 "2008-05-15T22:18:01Z")
My current project is being held up my NERF conflicts. Non-Exclusive, Royalty-Free rights. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/48 "2008-05-16T04:11:49Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] The corollaries to NIMBY are NIABY (Not In Anyone’s Back Yard), NOTE (Not Over There, Either), BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything), and NOPE (Not On Planet Earth). [/QUOTE] The previous mayor of Long Beach, California, got into a political kefluffle by coining a new one - CAVE people, “Citizens Against Virtually Everything.” (No, the kefluffle was not why she left; after a long stint, she just eventually decided to retire.) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/49 "2008-05-16T04:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] There are two conflicting versions of SNAFU. The one most people are familiar with is “Situation Normal: All Fucked Up,” but the way I’d heard it the phrase originated in the US Navy, as “Situation **Navy** : All Fucked Up.” Alas, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAFU) doesn’t support that interpretation, and instead claims it’s an Army phrase. Either way, we’re talking about a population that is known for using colorful language in any circumstance. [/QUOTE] I have to say as a former Navy denizen, **N** for **N** ormal sounds more likely than **N** avy. Warner Brothers had a series of instructional cartoons, [Private Snafu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Snafu) (not Seaman Snafu) and it explains “Snafu” as Situation Normal, All . . . All Fouled Up. According to Wiki, he did have a sailor brother, Seaman Tarfu (Things Are Really Fucked Up), but the war ended before that series got off the ground. WB _did_ have a series with a [Mr. Hook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes_and_Merrie_Melodies_filmography#Hook_shorts_.28made_for_the_U.S._Navy.29_.E2.80.94_3_titles), all of three of them, with a fourth by Walter Lantz. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/50 "2008-05-16T10:26:19Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] No, singular. See first use of the word, explanation of the meaning, about 8:20 ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gCYbVQj48t4/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/gCYbVQj48t4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque [/QUOTE] You’re right and the bl\*\*dy BBC are wrong! The acronym TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. [http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~abr/drwho/tardis/type40/node3.html](http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~abr/drwho/tardis/type40/node3.html) ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/51 "2008-05-17T06:46:42Z")
NAVY: Never Again Volunteer Yourself (courtesy of SO) and NIMITZ: Never Imagined Myself In This Zoo (courtesy of PBS’s _Carriers_…which cracked me up!) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267/52 "2008-05-21T15:43:43Z")
NASCAR: National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing Never mind the fact that they haven’t used _stock_ cars in about 30 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms/449267.md?page=2)