Acronyms Sometimes Suck

big mama's and papa's pizzeria

even the loosest association between food and defecation/urination is unwise, no?

(thanks to job and his second grade sense of humor for sending this one from hollywood!)

The World Taekwondo Federation is the International Federation governing the sport of Taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations [ASOIF]. The WTF recognizes national Taekwondo governing bodies recognized by the NOC in the pertinent country, one in each country, as its members.

Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System

The Precision Weapons Platform (PWP) is a lightweight turret that SDL is creating for the U.S. Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) as part of the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS). SDL is also developing the operator’s station and the algorithms and software needed to control the PWP.

PWP is intended to integrate a sniper system onto a rotary–winged unmanned aircraft that will allow sniper capability on a platform that can achieve line of sight to a target by going above or around obstacles. This system could provide an accurate delivery of fire with little or no collateral damage, which is particularly useful in urban settings.

maybe this one isn't really all that unfortunate, after all. i mean, it's a sniper system for the army. my guess is that it could potentially be used to kick some pirate booty, right?

wall street journal article

lovers of our acronyms in government series will find a great article in the wall street journal today by louise radnofsky. here are some snippets of the full piece. i was interviewed for the article.

"Take, for example, the RAT Board, which in more official circles is known as the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, charged with sniffing out waste, fraud and abuse in the $787 billion plan. The Leaking Underground Storage Tank trust, an unsexy environmental cleanup fund that existed before the stimulus package, has now been unofficially rebranded LUST Recovery."

"Departments that do choose to spell known words should take care -- poking fun at poorly chosen acronyms is already an Internet sport. Jennifer Alicia Johnson, a former English teacher who now manages an afterschool program in Seattle, set up a blog in January to collect humorous examples. 'One does wonder, if they aren't fully thinking through their name, why should we believe they are fully thinking through their efforts?' she said."

it looks like the comments section of the article will be great fodder for future ASS posts!

but it's not google

Microsoft has used attack ads to go after Apple, and now it has Google in its sights. The software giant is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That's a big campaign -- big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.

that all sounds fine and good.

but

it's

not

google.

biologically appropriate raw food

BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones and Raw Food. This diet is all about feeding dogs and cats properly and returning them to their evolutionary diet.

A Biologically Appropriate diet for a dog is one consisting of raw whole foods similar to those eaten by the dogs' wild ancestors. The food must contain such things as muscle meat, bone, fat, organ meats, vegetable and fruit materials combined in precisely the correct balance just as Mother Nature intended.

i get where they are coming from. i mean, dog food typically does look and taste like regurgitated food, and it's sorta funny to call that out when creating a new food product for pets, but it still makes me cringe, you know?

universal technical institute

"Universal Technical Institute (UTI) is the country's premier provider of technician training for students seeking a rewarding career in the automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle, and marine industries."

the country's premier provider, huh? man, those classes must be intense. painful, even.

international bulb society

Established in 1933, the International Bulb Society is the only international, non-profit, educational and scientific organization devoted to the dissemination of information on the growing, conservation and botany of all geophytic plants (commonly referred to as "bulbs").

hat tip to slogger jen graves who adds, "i tell myself that the society is old and existed before the syndrome."

federal coordinating council for comparative effectiveness research

"The 15-member council, created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will assist the agencies of the federal government, including HHS and the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, as well as others, to coordinate comparative effectiveness and related health services research."

sounds like an okay idea to me.

but the acronym?

say it aloud with me, now.

FCCCER!

agency for nullifying underwritten securities

god, i love jon stewart. no, jon, acronyms aren't easy. and sometimes, they just suck. thanks to kimberly from mostly soup for the link!

two million for marriage

wow. it's like they are doing it on purpose or something. between their "rainbow coalition," their acronym that implies ravenously eating something, and now their 2M4M initiative, well, let's face it. they are making it really hard to take their anti-gay propaganda seriously.

2M4M is NOM's new initiative to form an "online army of marriage activists willing to stand up for marriage on a moment's notice, sending emails and making phone calls to legislators whenever marriage is threatened."

sounds very super-heroey, doesn't it? wherever marriage is threatened NOM's 2M4M will be there! leaping over tall tall buildings with their rainbow coalition! oh man. i can't stop laughing.

and will all of these gay slip ups, NOM can't seem to keep a straight face either.

hat tip to slog. and for those who need a little more info, m4m stands for male for male, in the online world of personal ads. totally gay.

national organization for marriage

NOM is a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.

NOM (as in, om nom nom nom) is also the sound of ravenous eating.

and so, NOM, for both your unfortunate acronym as well as your intolerance, i say to you, NOM ON THIS.

(and thanks to rob, a commenter from slog, for pointing this out!)

society for the protection of elfish welfare

becca sends in this unfortunate acronym from the harry potter series, totally recognizing that it might be on the dorky side. my response? this is a blog about acronyms. clearly dorkiness is allowed. and yep, this one is definitely another addition to the intentionally unfortunate series. thanks, becca!

phoenix island settlement scheme

The Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme was begun in 1938 in the western Pacific ocean and was the last attempt at human colonisation within the British Empire.

Conceived by Henry E. "Harry" Maude, lands commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and approved by Sir Harry Luke, high commissioner of the western Pacific in Fiji, its goal was to reduce overpopulation in the southern Gilbert Islands by developing three mostly uninhabited atolls in the Phoenix Islands archipelago: Nikumaroro, Manra Island, Orona Atoll.

very ambitious, this scheme. i wonder if there was ever a point when they thought, "ah, let's just forget about it."

department on aging

around the country, states use the title department on aging for their elderly affairs office. at least one state has taken note of the unfortunate acronym and is considering alternatives. others are sticking to their old ways and keeping department on elderly affairs. like DEA is much better.

singles awareness day

"What Is Singles Awareness Day?
In response to the huge push by retailers for us to buy all of their candy, flowers and greeting cards February 15 has been declared Singles Awareness Day! This is the day that all of the single people can proudly stand up and show that it is OKAY to be single!"

it's pretty clear that this one is intentionally unfortunate and therefore kicks off another new series here at ASS.

tokyo institute of technology