Longest or Favorite Computer Acronym? [Archive]

David Prahl

07-25-2003, 02:41 PM

David Prahl

07-25-2003, 02:43 PM

WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get

Hyperluminal

07-25-2003, 03:06 PM

TLA= Three Letter Acronym :wink:

hollis_f

07-25-2003, 03:44 PM

Not the longest - but my fave.

PCMCIA - People Can't Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms

Steven Cedrone

07-25-2003, 04:00 PM

I love it when computer "experts" tell me to ping something. My first response: "Wow, great idea. I would have never thought of that... Oh, and by the way, since your so familiar with this tool, what does ping stand for???" :wink: :wink: :wink:

Takes a little bit of the fight out of 'em when they stammer as they :google: the term... :lol:

PING - Packet Internet Groper

Steve

GoldKey

07-25-2003, 04:14 PM

ARPANET Advanced Research Projects Agency Network

lurch

07-25-2003, 04:18 PM

I like GNU.

GNU's Not Unix
(GNU's Not Unix) Not Unix
((GNU's Not Unix) Not Unix) Not Unix
(((GNU's Not Unix) Not Unix) Not Unix) Not Unix
((((GNU's Not Unix) Not Unix) Not Unix) Not Unix) Not Unix

ETC!!! :lol:

KayMan2k

07-25-2003, 04:23 PM

Here's another vote for WYSIWYG.

IP - while its probably one of the shortest ancronyms I have read too many articles refer to intellectual property as IP while I'm thinking of 128.175.6.121 :lol:

Duncan

07-25-2003, 04:26 PM

Actually - following on from Lurch - what about WINE (WINE Is Not An Emulator)?

KayMan2k

07-25-2003, 04:27 PM

I like to "impress" non-geeks by defining a simple common acronym MP3 - Motion Picture Experts Group Version 1 Audio Layer 3.

Janak Parekh

07-25-2003, 04:31 PM

Back in the early days when people still discussed WYSIWYG, WordPerfect "invented" WYSBYGI == What You See Before You Get It (i.e., show the font in the font dialog before you actually apply the changes). :lol:

--janak

Steven Cedrone

07-25-2003, 05:24 PM

I was just wondering about this: How many people use acronyms almost daily, yet they don't know what it stands for...

I can think of quite a few people I know that do it...

Steve

Hyperluminal

07-25-2003, 05:32 PM

I was just wondering about this: How many people use acronyms almost daily, yet they don't know what it stands for...
That's interesting. Let's see...

Here are some that I think most people who use them probably don't know what they stand for:

DVD
TFT
RAM
CD-ROM
Laser
MP3
Pixel

Pony99CA

07-25-2003, 05:50 PM

What is the longest computer acronym you can think of? Do you have a favorite one? What phrases or buzz words do you use to impress non-geeks?

The longest I can think of right now is EBCDIC (or DDR-RAM DIMM if you count it as one).

It's not strictly a computer acronym (and may not be a proper acronym (http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?acronym)), but there's TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). (If you click the link, you'll see an acronym is a "word", which to me means it should follow the conventions of the language, which neither EBCDIC nor TANSTAAFL really do in English.)

Things like FORTAN (formula translation) and MODEM do not count. :wink:
Why don't they count? They are actually proper acronyms.

Steve

KayMan2k

07-25-2003, 06:03 PM

Continuing from Hyperluminal.....

USB
GIF
JPEG
AVI
HTML
PC :roll:

KayMan2k

07-25-2003, 06:04 PM

Things like FORTAN (formula translation) and MODEM do not count. :wink:

Ah well, can't use BASIC then.

Godsongz

07-25-2003, 06:53 PM

Great product-name acronym... "NYDITOT" (Now whY Didn't I Think Of That)

Anyone in IT would appreciate the descriptive acronym "PEBCAKE" (Problem Exists Between Chair And KEyboard) :lol:

Pony99CA

07-25-2003, 06:54 PM

Things like FORTAN (formula translation) and MODEM do not count. :wink:

Ah well, can't use BASIC then.
Actually, if I understand his rules, you could. I think Super Nerd didn't want multiple letters from each word forming the acronym.

BASIC (http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?String=exact&Acronym=basic&Find=Find) stands for Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (among other things), so one letter represents one word (or phrase).

Steve

Steven Cedrone

07-25-2003, 09:03 PM

...stands for Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (among other things), so one letter represents one word (or phrase).

Steve

And we can add to that as well: GW-Basic, the GW being "Gee Whiz"...

Steve

David Prahl

07-25-2003, 10:12 PM

PCMCIA = Personal Computers May Contain Idiotic Acronyms.

Not a PC acronym, but QDPSK = Quadrature Differential Phase Shift Keying (broadcasting).

You're right, Pony99CA, what I meant by "Things like FORTAN (formula translation) and MODEM do not count" was that each letter should stand for a word.

In school we were all writing quotes out of a novel on the white board at once. I wrote mine, and then stuck in "QDPSK =Quadrature Differential Phase Shift Keying" as well. It was really fun to see the look on their faces!

karen

07-26-2003, 03:56 AM

Even though PCMCIA is not the longest, I vote it as the worst. I mean, come on...an abbreviation that is harder to say than the words it is supposed to replace? That's why most say PC Card - which is a terrible replacement as it is not clear, either.

There's alwasy FOESADA and FUBAR, the most COMMON acronyms I use on my IT projects :oops:

David Prahl

07-26-2003, 04:00 AM

FOESADA? Didn't get anything on :google:

Dave Beauvais

07-26-2003, 05:40 AM

FOESADA? Didn't get anything on :google:
It wasn't even listed at AcronymFinder (http://www.acronymfinder.com/). I'm usually the Acronym King, but I can't figure out what that one is.

--Dave

JackTheTripper

07-28-2003, 06:56 PM

Continuing from Hyperluminal.....

USB
GIF
JPEG
AVI
HTML
PC :roll:You stole HTML from me. :(

Anyway... More...

Wi-Fi
FTP
HTTP
ROM
RAM
GUI

Kati Compton

07-28-2003, 06:58 PM

My favorite is PINE, the mail reader I use. For background info, elm is another mail reader.

PINE = Pine Is Not Elm.

Gotta love a self-referential acronym.

droppedd

07-28-2003, 07:14 PM

As the guy who all coworkers and friends go to for every little computer problem, i've been very tempted to get one of the T-shirts with "RTFM" on them...

Read the Friendly Manual (as AcronymFinder so politely put it - their "read the fscking manual" come a little closer to my likely day-to-day usage, however :)).

And then there's always "RTFMFM (http://www.hackerstickers.com/images/rtfmfm-shirt-full.jpg)." :twisted: Although I would never get a t-shirt with the terms written out - half the humor is that the half-wits who ask the stupid questions don't get the acronym and just figure it's a band like KMFDM, MDFMK, or AFI :).

And what is up with all the Linux/Unix infinite-recursive acronyms? I feel like it's a lot like the Linux OS itself - a joke only ubergeeks really get :).

Steven Cedrone

07-28-2003, 07:25 PM

No discussion about acronyms would be complete without my favorite: W?BIC! :wink:

Steve

karen

08-01-2003, 01:08 AM

FOESADA? Didn't get anything on :google:
It wasn't even listed at AcronymFinder (http://www.acronymfinder.com/). I'm usually the Acronym King, but I can't figure out what that one is.

--Dave

[Fudge] Off, Eat [Something] And Die, [A**HOLE]. If you pronouce it FOH-sad-tha, it sounds Spanish...

Jeff Rutledge

08-01-2003, 04:50 AM

Back in the days when I worked at a Helpdesk, we used a call tracking system called HEAT. It was used to (among other things) report call centre stats. One of the fields we reported on was the Cause (what ultimately turned out to be the reason for the error/issue).

We had a "Cause code" we used quite often:

DEU = Defective End User 8)

ctmagnus

08-01-2003, 05:59 AM

I love it when computer "experts" tell me to ping something.

PING - Packet Internet Groper

Steve

Next time, suggest that they go ping themselves. :)

ctmagnus

08-01-2003, 06:03 AM

I'm particularly fond of pebkac and rtfm.

Mitch D

08-01-2003, 01:12 PM

I think my favorites are;

RTFM
PEBKAC
OH (my own creation "Operator Headspacing")

:twak:

Reza

08-01-2003, 01:30 PM

MCSE = Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert
MBA = Mediocre But Arrogant
PhD = Piled High and Deep
IBM = I Blame Microsoft
WWW = World Wide Wait
ATM = Another Technical Mistake
DOS = Defunct Operating System
BASIC = Bill's Attempt to Seize Industry Control
ISDN = It Still Does Nothing
LISP = Lots of Infuriating and Silly Parentheses
DEC = Do Expect Cuts
CA = Constant Acquisitions
PnP = Plug 'n' Pray
PC = Pretty Cheap
CD_ROM = Consumer Device, Rendered Obsolete in Months
OS/2 = Obsolete Soon, Too
SCSI = System Can't See It
FORTRAN = Fortunately Our Readers Take Refreshers At Night school
PCMCIA = People Can't Memorize Computer Industrial Acronyms
Macintosh = Most Applications Crash; If Not, The Operating System Hangs
APPLE = Arrogance Produces Profit-Losing Entity
MICRO$OFT = Mac Imitation from a Corrupt Roguish Organization Selling Only Faulty Technology
WINDOWS = Wholly Inadequate Needless Damned Outrageous Waste of Space
RTFM = Replace The Fan Motor

Reza

08-01-2003, 01:30 PM

And for our military friends:

NAVY = Never Again Volunteer Yourself
MARINE = Muscles Are Required Intelligence Not Essential
ARMY = Aren’t Ready to be Marines Yet
US ARMY (spelled backwards) = Yes My Retarded Ass Signed Up

maximus

08-01-2003, 01:32 PM

I'm particularly fond of pebkac and rtfm.

What is pebkac ?

My favourite are:
T+ Think positive (short, but used it a lot ...)
2WIMC To whom it may concern
WLUMRYME Will you marry Me? (will use this one day .. :wink:)

maximus

08-01-2003, 01:38 PM

Macintosh
Most Applications Crash; If Not, The Operating System Hangs

ROFLMAO when reading that :D

As for the MBA thing, that has different meaning here:
Married But Available. heheh.

Happy weekend everyone ...

Steven Cedrone

08-01-2003, 01:47 PM

What is pebkac ?

Problem exists between keyboard and chair... :wink:

Steve

Bruno Figueiredo

08-01-2003, 01:54 PM

PEBKAC = Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair

and i love TWAIN = Technology Without An Interesting Name

Bruno Figueiredo

08-01-2003, 01:57 PM

Oh, man... So stupid... I didn't even looked at the post above... :frusty:

Bruno Figueiredo

08-01-2003, 04:11 PM

:idea: I made up this one:

:D GSG = Go Search Google

:?: What do ya think?

maximus

08-02-2003, 01:35 AM

What is pebkac ?

Problem exists between keyboard and chair... :wink:

Steve

Ha ha ha. Well it is a good thing that I dont have keyboard for my axim. So I am excluded :p

ctmagnus

08-02-2003, 07:07 AM

Ha ha ha. Well it is a good thing that I dont have keyboard for my axim. So I am excluded :p

Oh, we'll find a way to make you feel included. ;)

maximus

08-02-2003, 04:29 PM

ct : by the way, your avatar, what creature is that ?

ctmagnus

08-03-2003, 12:44 AM

ct : by the way, your avatar, what creature is that ?

It's a cross between Yoda (http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/yoda/) and Eric Cartman (http://www.southparkstudios.com/show/char.html?PHPSESSID=e3b4e6a7f321eaf9ca56b489d588a9fc). 8)