# You're doing TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) Wrong! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831 "2024-04-04T19:18:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/21 "2024-04-05T10:02:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In USAF, the official style guide / writing standard agrees with him, or at least it did 40 years ago. There at that time it was required to write the term out in full in title case followed by the Three Letter Acronym (“TLA”) in parentheses and double-quotes the first time, then never use the long form again in that document. The parens+quotes were your cue to pay attention because there’s a quiz starting immediately, maybe even later in this very sentence about TLA usage. Still standard. My wife writes technical manuscripts and grant proposals regularly, and part of the proofreading process (which I help with) is looking for the first usage of an acronym to ensure that it’s properly defined there and then going through the rest of the documentation to ensure that only the acronym ever gets used after that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/22 "2024-04-05T11:39:19Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > The difference is, there’s no obvious conversion from C to F unless you’re the sort of person who can not only do math in their head There’s no need for a conversion. Celsius is a system that works all on its own. When I hear a temperature in C, I don’t need to first convert it to F in order to understand it. This just comes from familiarity through use and exposure. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/23 "2024-04-05T11:44:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > When I hear a temperature in C, I don’t need to first convert it to F in order to understand it. This just comes from familiarity through use and exposure. Well, yes, but we were talking about how to convert from using one system that you’re familiar with due to exposure, to another system. Just dropping F entirely would make it so people _have_ to convert, but it would also have sent the US into another civil war (Cite: See “Dollar coins” discussions). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/24 "2024-04-05T11:45:12Z")
Also, they only need to explain the acronym once, the first time of use. If every place in the article says ‘TSE, Total Solar Eclipse’, the abbreviation is pointless. Also, brackets: TSE (Total Solar Eclipse) - OK Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) - OK TSE, Total Solar Eclipse - bad ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/25 "2024-04-05T15:54:52Z")
In IBM-land we refer to TLAs and ETLAs. The latter are Extended TLAs, i.e., four-letter initialisms and acronyms (yes, I went there). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/26 "2024-04-05T16:07:52Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > initialisms and acronyms (yes, I went there). TSHS. That Ship Has Sailed. We’ll never put the I back in TLI where it belongs. Which is a shame. I love technical correctness (the _reeechest_ kind) as much or more than most propeller heads. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/27 "2024-04-05T16:31:35Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > We’ll never put the I back in TLI where it belongs. I know but I grieve. A friend insists on making any initialism into an acronym anyway: he’d pronounce your “TSHS” as “tiss-hiss” or “tish-iss” or something. Maybe that’s The True Path. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/28 "2024-04-05T17:13:12Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > I know but I grieve. We can cry in our beer together. My two professional fields, aviation and IT, are filled w TLIs mislabeled as TLAs. When I got on the F-16 I encountered something I’d almost never seen before. People pronouncing the TLIs and ETLIs. I don’t know if that was common to all General Dynamics products, but I’d never encountered it in my then - five years of USAF nor 10 years of civil aviation. To name just a couple, the SMS was the “smizz” and the FCNP was the “Fick-nip”. It was universally taught that way as the officially sanctioned terminology, but it drove me batty. So wrong. In IT “sequel”, “asky”, and “ibseDick” are some of the few TLIs routinely pronounced. Which are the collective exception that proves the rule: “Don’t pronounce TLIs”. Just don’t. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/29 "2024-04-05T17:23:31Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > > [@Mangetout](#): > > > > When I hear a temperature in C, I don’t need to first convert it to F in order to understand it. This just comes from familiarity through use and exposure. > > Well, yes, but we were talking about how to convert from using one system that you’re familiar with due to exposure, to another system. Just dropping F entirely would make it so people _have_ to convert, but it would also have sent the US into another civil war (Cite: See “Dollar coins” discussions). Well, my experience is that the way to convert to using a new temp system is to go someplace where it’s used, and get used to people saying, “it’s 4 degrees in the walk-in fridge” or “it’s 16 today”. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/30 "2024-04-05T20:07:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “ibseDick” I always pronounced that “ebsidic.” ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/31 "2024-04-05T22:02:38Z")
Lately I’ve been seeing these TV ads in which Henry Winkler tells us all about the symptoms of AMD, which can progress into a more severe form called GA. And I’m always wondering what the heck American Micro Devices and General Aviation have to do with my eyes. Apparently AMD = “age-related macular degeneration” (So shouldn’t it be ARMD?) and I don’t actually remember what GA is supposed to mean. But I assume they’re both marketing terms made up by some pharmaceutical company. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/32 "2024-04-05T22:07:19Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > (So shouldn’t it be ARMD?) “What’s wrong with being armed? Man, Fonzie’s gone woke!” ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/33 "2024-04-05T22:16:27Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I don’t actually remember what GA is supposed to mean That would be ‘geographic atrophy\*’. …Advanced AMD is classified as neovascular (wet) AMD and non-neovascular (dry) AMD. **Dry AMD** can progress to a more advanced form that manifests as geographic atrophy (GA), which significantly threatens vision, leading to progressive and irreversible loss of visual function…. [from [aao.org](http://aao.org)] ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/34 "2024-04-06T00:29:51Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > And I’m always wondering what the heck American Micro Devices and General Aviation have to do with my eyes. GA is also General Atomics. If you think of Winkler’s spiel like that it’s even funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/35 "2024-04-12T22:16:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In IT “sequel”, “asky”, and “ibseDick” are some of the few TLIs routinely pronounced. Which are the collective exception that proves the rule: “Don’t pronounce TLIs”. > > Just don’t. . Okay . 👍🏼 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831/36 "2024-04-16T23:30:52Z")
I remembered this thread when posting, and @Ulf_the_Unwashed’s post inspired me to buck with tradition and put the TLA (Three Letter Acronym) first. I find his argument persuasive. It does seem easier to me to remember the abbreviation if I see first when reading. I wonder if I’ll get comments on it in the thread (which I won’t mention here). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-doing-tla-three-letter-acronyms-wrong/999831.md?page=1)