I know you all enjoy a bit of wordplay? I certainly do, and while reviewing my reference shelves I rediscovered a paperback that will definitely stay there rather than be consigned to the charity shop pile. It’s The Wordsworth Book of Intriguing Words, subtitled The Insomniac’s Dictionary, by Paul Hellweg and originally published in 1986. It’s full of interesting lists of things such as collective nouns, animal adjectives, phobias, manias, words ending with -omancy, -icide, and all kinds of other groupings, and although being American in origin it is full of fascinating stuff.
Today, inspired by this book, I want to concentrate on one category of words – abbreviations, and in particular – acronyms. Last summer I posted about DITLOIDs – a number/word game in which you get a phrase like 1=DITLOID (One = Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich) to decipher. This time, I’m just going to chat about some of my favourite acronyms, new and old.
If last year you’d asked me what LOL stood for – I’d probably have said Little Old Lady, (remembered in particular from hospital drama ER, where they had lots of other acronyms too including GOMER – Get Out of My Emergency Room for people coming with minor complaints). I never did use LOL for Lots Of Love as we discovered that PM David Cameron did to his chagrin. Laughing Out Loud is less fun though – and you can save yourself a character by doing a 😀 smiley.
The acronym du moment seems to be YOLO – You only live once. Currently popularised from a 2010 song by Canadian rapper Drake called The motto. Apparently Zac Ephron has a YOLO tattoo too. However, it is way older than that, often being attributed to Mae West, but also in usage for around 100 years according to Wikipedia. I prefer to use Carpe Diem (RIP Robin Williams), to mean essentially the same thing.
My favourite zeitgeisty acronym though is MAMIL. You see them out all over the place these days. Last week a company called Fat Lad At the Back (FLAB – truly!) tried to get investment from Dragon’s Den on TV to expand their range of clothing for the larger MAMIL. Yes folks, a MAMIL is a Middle-Aged Man In Lycra™, usually seen from the rear balancing on two wheels channelling his internal Bradley Wiggins.
Another good one, which isn’t in such wide usage is SUMO. It can stand for loads of things, but its most succinct is as Shut Up, Move On – as popularised in a motivational book by Paul McGee. The premise of SUMO is good, but the contents of his book do sound a little contrived – ‘Fruity Thinking’, ‘Hippo-time’ anyone?
Does anyone still use POETS Day? In the earlier days of my career, we did quite a lot – Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday – every Friday. No longer though!
I shall finish by going back to an old favourite, which I was reminded of from the Book of Intriguing Words. That is TANSTAAFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch! Yes, it’s very American and has been in use at least since the 1930s, but its sentiment is true. I chose it specially though as the phrase and acronym are central to the premise of one of the first SF novels I loved as a teenager – that’s Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress from 1966.
Which current acronyms do you love – or loathe?
Do you have a favourite acronym?
Do share!
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To explore the books mentioned above on Amazon UK, please click below:
The Wordsworth Book of Intriguing Words by Paull Hellweg. O/P but S/H copies available.
S.U.M.O. (shut Up, Move On): The Straight Talking Guide to Creating and Enjoying a Brilliant Lifeby Paul McGee
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (S.F. MASTERWORKS) by Robert Heinlein
I hadn’t come across MAMIL and now have an unpleasant image in my mind! Despite that I enjoyed your post, Annabel.
Whatever the image, it’s a great acronym though…
My children (teens and twenties) are always chucking acronyms at me and I mostly have no idea what they mean. I am old enough to favour SNAFU!
Bowdlerised, or non? (In your head of course!) 🙂
Non in my head, but I try and restrain the language out loud!! :))))))
LOLINAD was my son’s favourite as a young registrar in A and E Code for colleague after examining a Little Old Lady In No Apparent Distress.
I used to have a book about ER the TV series, and it had a complete list of all the A&E codes, abbreviations and acronyms.
MAMIL – brilliant. That’s my new favourite. I’m hoping I don’t get too many opportunities to use it in the flesh though!
Ha! I love POETS Day — I’m going to start using that. I am sort of a fan of the spelled-out acronym — I’ve become hugely fond of saying “charlie foxtrot” for “clusterf*ck” and have been doing it constantly. 😀