Acronyms, abbrevs, and redundancy

In our fast paced society, we can't be bothered to spell it all out—literally.  We have invented a new shorthand with txt-ing and abbrevs (thank you SoCal) and acronyms. And we usually know what is meant. Mostly. Well, you may not know what RSVP stands for, but you understand the concept. And eventually, as in the case of RSVP, you see the letters as the concept, which introduces a few interesting problems.

RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more words that make up an acronym. For example, the syndrome literally reads Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome. Other examples include PIN number (personal identification number number) and ATM machine (automatic teller machine machine).  In the case of PIN, i can understand needing to add a clarifying word to the acronym to separate it from a pin or pen.  For other reasons behind this phenomenon check out the Wikipedia page.

The other problem as I see it has less to do with stylistic blunders and more with being bamboozled as consumers.  Everyone should be aware that msn is an acronym for Microsoft Network. But using their acronym seems to me to soften the impact of their expansion into other media (if you are the sort of person who dislikes big corporations).  And this isn't me pointing a finger at Microsoft, because most people know that one; many companies do this.  When SBC (now merged with AT&T) took over various smaller companies they changed their name to its acronym and then claimed it wasn't an acronym of Southwestern Bell Company and in fact didn't stand for anything.  The break-up and re-merging of the Bell companies is rather interesting but a bit off-topic for this post.

I don't really want to spend more time discussing name changes, mergers, and monopolies, although in an American acronym discussion these topics are frequent and extend back for decades.  Instead, here are several common acronyms I've collected and their meanings.  I'll leave you to spot the irony and age of  some of them.

AAA/ Triple-A— American Automobile Association
ABC— American Broadcasting Company
AT&T—American Telephone and Telegraph
BMW— Bavarian Motor Works
CBS—Columbia Broadcasting System
CNN—Cable News Network
DVD—digital video disc (some of these I hope are familiar) OR digital versatile disc
DVR— digital video recorder
FDA— Food and Drug Administration
LASER (yes, laser)— light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
LP—long-playing [record album]
M&M's—NOT AN ACROMYN, the letters do stand for founders Mars and Murrie
MGM— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
NBC—National Broadcasting Company
NRA— National Rifle Association
PRC— People's Republic of China (you might find this on a clothes tag)
RADAR—radio detection and ranging
RSVP—Respondez sil vous plait (please reply, making 'please rsvp' redundant)
SONAR— sound navigation and ranging
SMS—short message service (aka texting and other stuff sent to your phone)
TBS— Turner Broadcasting System
TLC— The Learning Chanel or tender loving care
TNT— Turner Network Television
USDA— United States Department of Agriculture
VCR—videocassette recorder
VH1— Video Hits One
VHS— video home system

PS- most of the above are actually initialism. Turns out there are terms for different types of acronyms. Search acronym on Wikipedia for more on the differences.