# Major acronym fail **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631 "2019-03-27T20:55:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/41 "2019-03-29T12:40:46Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Sure, but the point is that the Sanskrit word “swastika/swastik” is still used positively in many contexts in India, and always has been. Using it as an acronym for an Indian research group is not intrinsically different from, say, an [American research group naming itself “Sales & Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Action, and Retention” or SOLAR](https://research.phoenix.edu/content/solar-research-group). Many people find SOLAR offensive? Who knew? An American research group publishing in an international journal could call itself Educational Associates for Terrestrial Conversion Of Waste Supplies and argue that it’s a perfectly legitimate acronym in the U.S., so Hindus should STFU. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/42 "2019-03-29T13:23:28Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/43 "2019-03-29T18:32:42Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > An American research group publishing in an international journal could call itself Educational Associates for Terrestrial Conversion Of Waste Supplies and argue that it’s a perfectly legitimate acronym in the U.S., so Hindus should STFU. :dubious: Well, yeah. EATCOWS is not offensive in the vast majority of the world, if India was objecting to a journal that was meant for _everyone_, I’d think they were being ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/44 "2019-03-29T18:56:12Z")
There’s the issue of Underground Storage Tanks (you know, like at gas stations or whatever). USTs are a well-established area of environmental concern. Especially the Leaking USTs. Which is the actual term used and abbreviated. I most often see it with “UST/” beforehand, but sometimes just the acronym all on its own. I don’t understand how that became the term; it’s not like ISIS or some other word that’s super-recent. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/45 "2019-03-29T19:18:14Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > I did a year of study at Cambridge University in the 90s. Several of my musically talented friends were members of the Cambridge University Musical Society. The choir at Flinders University in South Australia revels in the name “Flinders University Choral Society” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/46 "2019-03-29T22:18:45Z")
No one has mentioned that “Streetcar” line in Seattle that people still refer to by its original acronym of South Lake Union Trolley? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/47 "2019-03-29T22:18:57Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > To elaborate on DPRK’s response: the key of C major (and, mostly, A minor) use only the white notes on the keyboard. Ah. Thanks. I knew I was missing something. > [@Quercus](#): > > There’s the issue of Underground Storage Tanks (you know, like at gas stations or whatever). USTs are a well-established area of environmental concern. Especially the Leaking USTs. Which is the actual term used and abbreviated. I most often see it with “UST/” beforehand, but sometimes just the acronym all on its own. I don’t understand how that became the term; it’s not like ISIS or some other word that’s super-recent. In our department, the only underground tanks we deal with are fuel tanks, so the agencies have shifted to Leaking Underground Fuel Tanks. For a couple of decades, if they weren’t leaking they were still USTs. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631/48 "2019-03-30T00:26:22Z")
I work at Santa Clara University, and occasionally we borrow a laptop from Media Services. I’m always amused to see the SCUMS label on the laptops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-acronym-fail/831631.md?page=2)