# Unfortunate Acronyms
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 24, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651 "2010-03-24T18:31:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/1 "2010-03-24T18:31:58Z")
I always wondered why the people who come up with acronyms don’t think about the negative connotations they might have.
For example, Richar Nixon’s re-election PAC-“CREEP” (Committee to ReElect The President)-somehow, I always though that creeps liked Nixon.
Or PETA (People eating Tasty Animals)
What are your favorite acronyms?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/2 "2010-03-24T18:34:26Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> I always wondered why the people who come up with acronyms don’t think about the negative connotations they might have.
> For example, Richar Nixon’s re-election PAC-“CREEP” (Committee to ReElect The President)-somehow, I always though that creeps liked Nixon.
> **Or PETA (People eating Tasty Animals)**
> What are your favorite acronyms?
That was a direct response to the other PETA.
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/3 "2010-03-24T18:36:42Z")
Here is a [similar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546539)from a couple of months ago.
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/4 "2010-03-24T18:37:39Z")
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in publication since 1915 - [PNAS](http://www.pnas.org/).
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/5 "2010-03-24T18:39:17Z")
My company has an **I** nternet **T** elephony **S** erver server in Shanghai named **SHITS**
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/6 "2010-03-24T18:39:24Z")
San Diego Wild Animal Park had a contest to name the tram ride that ran through the various habitats. The winning entry was WGASA Bush Line; the letters standing for “Who gives a shit, anyway!”
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### Author:  [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/7 "2010-03-24T18:51:14Z")
The Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society
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### Author:  [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/8 "2010-03-24T19:18:23Z")
Bachelor of Science degree – it’s so obvious, it shouldn’t cause a snicker anymore, but it does.
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### Author:  [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/9 "2010-03-24T19:45:20Z")
The field of hazardous materials management brings us LUST (Leaking Underground Storage Tank).
Sometimes a LUST involves a BRA (Baseline Risk Assessment).
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/10 "2010-03-24T19:59:26Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#):
>
> The Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society
Heh. It’s been too long since I’ve watched that.
PETA really doesn’t work - the perfectly innocuous acronym came first, then later detractors came up with a negative alternate meaning.
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### Author:  [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/11 "2010-03-25T13:23:06Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#):
>
> The field of hazardous materials management brings us LUST (Leaking Underground Storage Tank).
>
> Sometimes a LUST involves a BRA (Baseline Risk Assessment).
This is pretty good! 😃
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### Author:  [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/12 "2010-03-25T21:20:23Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#):
>
> Bachelor of Science degree – it’s so obvious, it shouldn’t cause a snicker anymore, but it does.
Hee. I have a BS in English, which I think is entirely appropriate.
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### Author:  [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/13 "2010-03-25T21:28:57Z")
The International English Honor Society is **S** igma **T** au **D** elta.
> [@Snickers](#):
>
> Hee. I have a BS in English, which I think is entirely appropriate.
Same degree here, and I often make the same joke. 😃
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### Author:  [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/14 "2010-03-25T22:15:08Z")
ETOPS, or Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards, is a set of rules that allow aircraft with only two engines to fly over the ocean. It can also mean **E** ngines **T** urn **O** r **P** assengers **S** wim.
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### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/15 "2010-03-25T22:20:39Z")
The standardized tests high school kids must pass to graduate in Virginia are the Standards Of Learning. Fail, and you’re SOL.
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/16 "2010-03-25T22:20:52Z")
I believe there used to be, before they changed their name, a Sam Houston Institute of Technology.
Then there French Connection United Kingdom, but that was quite obviously intentional.
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### Author:  [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/17 "2010-03-25T22:21:53Z")
Slightly off topic, there is the [South Lake Union Streetcar](http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/)in Seattle. The unofficial name is the SLUT: South Lake Union Trolley, which the city despises but can’t stamp out. There are t-shirts available, here is one [style](http://www.cafepress.com/+i_rode_dark_tshirt,174500636).
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### Author:  [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/18 "2010-03-25T23:40:55Z")
The band **J** immy **E** at **W** orld often comment on their unfortunate acronym.
A friend and I were talking once about the post-Soviet-invasion America in _Red Dawn_ and what we thought it would be like. He came to the conclusion that the Soviet occupation authorities would probably change the name of the US to “something like the **A** merican **S** ocialist **S** tates.” I gave him a second to realize what he said, but he never did.
I always thought that **NIMBY** sounded stupid.
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### Author:  [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/19 "2010-03-25T23:47:34Z")
My favorite is one that the responsible parties were astute enough to avoid. The First Unitarian Church of Berkeley is actually located in the adjacent community of Kensington. But they didn’t use Kensington in the name for some reason …
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### Author:  [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/20 "2010-03-26T00:58:38Z")
When I was working for Statistics Canada, one of the many phone surveys we conducted was called the Youth In Transition Survey, or YITS (rhymes with knits).
I always thought it sounded like some kind of rash or disease. “I can’t come in to work today; I’ve got a bad case of YITS”
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