FYI? ASAP? So Many Acronyms in English
Part II of "English is an Impatient language" The word acronym refers to a shortened phrase using the initial letters of each word in the phrase. In Iran, acronyms are not common and mainly used in military and intelligence applications as in SASAD: "SAzeman SAnaye Defaa." But Americans (and other English speaking people) LOVE acronyms, as they shorten sentences and help with that time and efficiency of communications that we discussed before. The following is an example of some widely used acronyms in America:
FYI: For Your Information ASAP: As Soon As Possible FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigations GOP; Grand Old Party (Republicans) CIA: Central Intelligence Agency DOD: Department of Defense EPA: Environmental Protection Agency …. In addition to national acronyms, various professions have adopted their own acronyms, such as the following used in the medical world: CT-Scan: Computed Tomography Scan MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging EKG or ECG: ElectroCardioGram AMA; American Medical Association
Do you know what the following stand for? REM (sleep studies), BYOB (in restaurants), DIY (in maintenance), FIFO, LIFO (in accounting and inventory management), HAZMAT, VOC (in environmental control), NSA, HUD (U.S. government).
Send us your answer or your own favorite acronyms and you will be entered into our prize drawings (Iranian Movies DVD and CDs) in June.