# Homonyms to initialisms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013 "2022-10-10T13:35:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/21 "2022-10-10T20:04:27Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Check out the book: … I remembered that book from childhood, though a lot the words are a stretch. I even remembered a particular pair of lines and was able to find the text of the book. KT S DZ. I C Y. (With an illustration of Katie twirling) > **[C D B : William Steig : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/stream/0al_CDB/C%20D%20B_djvu.txt)** > > C D B is a children's book written and illustrated by William Steig, published in 1968 by Simon & Schuster. From the book’s wikipedia page below: [CDB - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDB)! I learned these are called gramogram, grammagrams or letteral words. > **[Gramogram](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramogram)** > > A gramogram, grammagram, or letteral word is a letter or group of letters which can be pronounced to form one or more words, as in "CU" for "see you". They are a subset of rebuses, and are commonly used as abbreviations. > They are sometimes used as a component of cryptic crossword clues. > A poem reportedly appeared in the Woman's Home Companion of July 1903 using many gramograms: it was preceded by the line "ICQ out so that I can CU have fun translating the sound FX of this poem". ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/22 "2022-10-10T20:32:10Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Ohhhh! I see. > > I don’t know any😋 ICWYDT ! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/23 "2022-10-11T00:55:48Z")
My dentist was named Abie. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/24 "2022-10-11T01:41:37Z")
It’s not a perfect match, but WT for deputy. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/25 "2022-10-11T02:23:07Z")
B4 CDB (A whole book of these) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/26 "2022-10-11T02:27:19Z")
A friend of mine played a droid character in one of our Star Wars Roleplaying Game campaigns; she named her character 2B-R0-2B (“To Be or Nought To Be,” with the zero in the name read as “Naught”). ---
**Author:** ![DoubleG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DoubleG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoubleG)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/27 "2022-10-11T03:10:47Z")
Katie - KT Evie - EV ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/28 "2022-10-11T04:10:09Z")
A song full of them by TMBG: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-orHSkHbcIU/hqdefault.jpg "They Might Be Giants’ Here Come the ABC’s - ICU (Alternate Version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-orHSkHbcIU) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/29 "2022-10-11T04:43:22Z")
DGNR8 - as seen on t-shirts ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/30 "2022-10-11T10:39:49Z")
I once did a job for a vet who’s car registration number was V8NRY (or V80NRY - i can’t remember) ---
**Author:** ![DoubleG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DoubleG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoubleG)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/31 "2022-10-11T16:12:34Z")
Queue - Q ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/32 "2022-10-11T16:27:58Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Arby’s is named after the founders, the Raffel brothers. Huh. I always thought RB stood for “roast beef.” > [@Telemark](#): > > WT for deputy. My son studied Tae Kwan Do, and was describing belt levels to me. He called the red and black striped belt a “WD black belt” (pronouncing the W). Of course he’d misheard “deputy black belt.” ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/33 "2022-10-11T17:43:47Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Huh. I always thought RB stood for “roast beef.” I did, too, until I read my own cite. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/34 "2022-10-19T18:10:16Z")
There is a sequal to the CDB book. Not as good. We had a copy of CDB floating around the house. One of my brothers would always read one page (O U QT, U R A BUT) as “Oh, you cutie! You are a butt!” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/35 "2022-10-19T20:20:49Z")
Are we related somehow? My brother did the same thing. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013/36 "2022-10-19T20:26:01Z")
6UL DVNC (yes, Discourse, this is a complete sentence) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-to-initialisms/973013.md?page=1)