EIEIO

 

Think Abold mcdonald's farm cartooonout It. E I E I O. Recently we noted the alphabet soup of U.S government departments that have created an almost impenetrable web of rules, laws and acts of obfuscation. While Tangled referred to few initialisms, the word acronym was meant to describe initials sounded as a word.  For Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV is easier, but we say the letters (initialism). For Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome, we say the word AIDS (acronym). Ignoring the rule,  ALLACRONYMS.COM claims there are over 2,969,118 and counting. The site even has a running total of internet searches.  Since Jonathan Gruber’s comment that “….the stupidity of the American voter…” was the reason the Affordable Care Act was so carefully crafted to be unclear, you may want to see the amalgam of letters available at the CCIIO.  Go ahead. Check it out. I’ll wait. Sorry, this was intended to be all fun today.  I just couldn’t help myself.

Let’s drop the acrimony and return to acronyms.  Ever notice how some famous folks speak out for giant windmill-driven turbines?  Then notice when they consider looking out the window at them they say NIMBY, Not In My BackYard, LOL. Beware Twitter tweeters, after being forced to reveal their research on social media, the FBI gave up a list of over 2800 shorthand shortcuts with expurgated explanation, to protect us from the likes of you AYFKMWTS.  Their release included the assurance that it should be found  ” useful in your work or for keeping up with your children and/or grandchildren.”

Mary came home the other day casually referring to at an RFP, as if I would understand. Sadly, it’s been a long time since anyone has requested a “proposal” from me. A sass once got you a spanking for your impertinent, disrespectful speech.  Now it’s the Screening, Assessment and Support Services of the Illinois HMS among others.

When it comes to playing with words I find Michael Quinion among the best. His World Wide Words website is even available through Twitter. @wwwordseditor   He has however frustrated the long-held belief of this long-time sailor that POSH meant Port Out Starboard Home, referring to the choice of wealthy transatlantic travelers to not have sun shining into their eyes while in their shipboard suites.  According to the British etymologist, the frantic SOS doesn’t really mean Save our Ship or Save our Souls.  He says it’s just “a particularly memorable and easily recognised Morse code sequence.”

You may know that our childhood song about Old MacDonald and his farm has been translated or used in various adaptations in dozens of languages around the world, even those not using our alphabet.  But after a lengthy (and fun) look at the Royal and Parliamentary departmental names lending themselves to acronyms, Quinion has the audacity to assert, “that the existence of the Engineering Information and Electronics Instruction Officer was just an urban legend.” So much for our beloved E I E I O. Think About It.

Eight decades of business and entertainment have shown me much of how the world works, sometimes well, and often not so well. If I haven’t become a sage, at least time gives me some right to write my thought so you can Think About It.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *