YOLO, WiFi, LASER, RAM, ROM, BTW, FOMO, ASAP, PIN, RSVP, FIFA, SCUBA, NATO, TSA…just to name a few.
One of my favorites is CAPTCHA — which is Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart…LOL
And let’s not forget WTF.
Acronyms are used almost every day; in fact, they have become part of our casual day-to-day conversations. Sometimes it feels like all we do is use acronyms…and you would think this is a new thing. But it really isn’t. Not really.
My first job after graduating from university with a Bachelors in Computer Science, was as a Systems Analyst for the Xerox Corporation.
I laugh when I think back to those first days on the job. I recall sitting in my first team meeting and thinking…“Are they actually speaking in english?”…for all I knew, they could have been speaking danish…because honestly, I couldn’t understand anything!
I’m not kidding! It seemed that every other word that was uttered was an acronym or a number that referred to some product. I soon realized that they were talking Xeroid. A dialect that I better learn…and very fast.
However, this was not the first time this had happened to me.
Back in college I signed up for one of those “required” programming courses (I remember it was Pascal). This course was taught by a professor from India. He was also reputed to be the very best. So I was very happy that I had been able to get into his class.
There was a “pre-required” COBOL (also an acronym) class…but it was “optional”…meaning that one could take both simultaneously if one wished to do so. And I thought…why not?
In those days I seemed to always be in a hurry to finish things. My eyes were always on the goal…and because of that, I think I missed out on a lot. I have since learned to enjoy the “ride” more than the “destination”… but that is discussion of another kind.
The first day in class I sat there with my notebook and pencil in hand (this was before “electronic notebooks came into existence). The teacher began to speak with a very heavy Indian accent as he wrote on the blackboard…And I simply couldn’t understand anything he was saying…at all!
I looked around to see if others were having the same problem; but it seemed that I was the only one experiencing distress. Apparently everyone else was able to understand what he was saying.
What was wrong with me?…how could this be?! I imagined this is how it must have felt for those people in the Tower of Babel…hahaha.🧐
I tried sitting there for a few more sessions, but I had no other recourse other than to drop the class. I would have failed it for sure! So, I figured that I needed to take that course with another teacher next semester.
But as luck would have it, he was the only teacher that taught it. So it seemed that I was doomed.
Therefore, in the following semester I braced myself for the struggle. What other choice did I have?
I recall cringing a bit as he began speaking; because frankly, I fully expected it to be the same as the time before. How could it not be?
But NO! Miracles of miracles, I was suddenly able to understand everything he said. It was as if someone had removed my earplugs and I could finally hear well…it seemed that the Babel curse was gone!
I later realized that it wasn’t that I couldn’t understand the teacher because of his accent; but instead it was because he spoke using acronyms the entire time. It was like a dialect that I should have known beforehand and that I learned in that not so “optional” pre-required class. WHAT A RELIEF! 😅 I wonder if there is an acronym for that…🧐
At the end, that class turned out to be one of my very best.
However, I do think that I spotted one guy with a panicked and confused look on his face that day…
Yep…I know that feeling!
