# Unfortunate Acronyms **URL:** \ **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:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/41 "2010-03-29T01:31:36Z")
> [@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) Nixon’s team did not employ the acronym “CREEP”; the press did. William Safire wrote that in coming up with the name, the Nixonites did think about what unpleasant acronyms their enemies might invent but CREEP simply escaped their attention. They decided that CRAP was in too bad taste for the mainstream media and CREP too effete. Their problem in the first place was that they did not wish to highlight the unpopular Spiro Agnew but that a name like “Nixon for President” would have seemed to be tossing their vice president overboard. “Committee to Re-Elect the President” seemed at the time like a clever solution to the problem. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/42 "2010-03-29T14:44:49Z")
I’ve always gotten a giggle over MENSA, which means stupid in Spanish. ---
**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, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/43 "2010-03-29T15:09:32Z")
“Mensa” is not an acronym or an abbreviation. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/44 "2010-03-29T20:03:23Z")
I always liked KIA (Killed In Action). I wonder if their ad firm asked them to consider a name change. ---
**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, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/45 "2010-03-29T21:03:12Z")
I doubt it. K.I.A. isn’t so much a part of the public consciousness to be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/46 "2010-03-29T21:21:01Z")
> [@may\_be\_ignorant](#): > > During a session of this year’s Harvard Model Congress in Boston, we passed a bill entitled PENIS. It dealt with the problem of sexual education (whether or not to teach abstinence or contraception.) > > It was definitley manipulated a bit, but the acronym made perfect sense. I wrote it down somewhere but do not remember at the time what exactly it stood for:smack:. If i happen to come across it I’ll be sure to edit this post. That should have been just the boys’ version. The girls’ version could have been, say, the Varied Approaches for Girls In Need Act. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/47 "2010-03-29T21:52:36Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I doubt it. K.I.A. isn’t so much a part of the public consciousness to be a problem. Not to mention, it’s always an initialism and never an acronym (i.e., you say “kay eye ay,” not “kee uh”). ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/48 "2010-03-29T22:57:00Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > When I was an undergrad, each department had a four letter abbreviation for its name, for computerized registration purposes. ENGL for English, MATH for Mathematics, PHYS for Physics, etc. > > The abbreviation for the Department of Comparative Literature was CLIT. > > When a female friend filled out the paperwork to major in Comparative Literature, she looked at the form and said to her (also female) adviser "You mean I’m a - a " “Yes, unfortunate, isn’t it.” Either there are two schools using these abbreviations or I work at the school you attended. We’ve since renamed the department “Comparative Literature and Languages” and use CLL as its abbreviation. I don’t know why we stuck with the old abbreviation for as long as we did… ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651/49 "2010-03-30T00:08:05Z")
> [@uncle\_squeegee](#): > > 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). Also in Seattle, we have the SHAG. - Senior Housing Assistance Group. They run [TV ads](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BXg65tcKyM) all the time telling people how SHAG can help. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unfortunate-acronyms/533651.md?page=2)