I was just forced to watch a video about bank secrecy and in it they mentioned the USA Patriot stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”.
Did you know that it stood for anything?
Mods: This is clearly mundane and pointless but is also a poll. Feel free to move as appropriate.
OK…seriously strange…why were you “forced” to watch a video on bank secrecy?
Do you mean “bank security”?
I knew it was one of those tortured acronyms that makes up a word, but I didn’t remember what it actually stood for.
I thought it meant “U stupid americans, panicking at the republicans’ idiotic, orwellian tripe”.
No, I mean bank secrecy. I’m on the Supervisory Committee of our local credit union and we have to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act.
That was the first draft, but they thought “orwellian” would go over the voters’ heads and be too obscure a literary illusion.
And yes, I knew it was an acronym – one almost as stupid as the act itself.
Gaaaak!
allusion
Yes, I do know the difference.
To address the OP, yes, I knew that USA PATRIOT act was an acronym although I couldn’t have told you what the exact words were.
But on the Bank Secrecy Act, I’ll note the irony of the title as the purpose of the act is to reduce secrecy.
Why do I suddenly feel as if I’ve been projected into an episode of The Man From UNCLE?
Another person who couldn’t have told you what the exact words were, but knew it was a somewhat tortured acronym.
The administration denies torturing any acronymns, and assures the American people that the occasional aggressive interrogation of acronyms is vitally necessary to protect the American people from evildoers who hate our freedom.
Yes, I knew it was an acronym, but I’m a librarian and we have a special interest in it. It seems much more sinister when you know the acronym.
Which came first, the acronym or the act? 
The bill was titled the acronym even before it passed.
Yes, the mind numbing anti-money laundering lectures I sit through will always remind me of this.
Yes, I knew – and it annoys me, very slightly, whenever the media fail to print it all in caps.
I knew, and it merely underlines how f@#%!L^&! stupid the thing is.
Like pretty much everyone else, I knew it was an acronym, but I couldn’t have told you exactly what for, except that it was creepy and Orwellian.
And I feel your pain on the BSA/anti-money laundering presentations. So many hours of my life that I’ll never get back.
I didn’t know it was an acronym and strangely, my life isn’t enhanced with this knowlege either.
Let’s move on to more fluffly acronyms, shall we?
SCUBA: Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apperatus.
Ditto.
Also, in case any Republican pollsters are reading, I am someone who would have considered voting Republican before but since they dragged the Boogeyman, gay sex and other intrusions of the bible into personal stuff (education, stem cells, etc) I now will likely stay away for life (or until that changes).