A Retronym is a new word or phrase coined for an old object or concept whose original name has become used for something else or is no longer unique. Many of these are created by advances in technology.
- DVD - in computing and audio, "Digital Versatile Disc" is a valid backronym for what was originally a ''digital Video disc''; the DVD Consortium supposedly has never claimed that the letters DVD stood for anything specific.
- Gcc - Gnu Compiler Collection (originally ''Gnu C Compiler'', other compilers and languages have since been added to the package)
- OCLC - Online Computer Library Center (originally Ohio College Library Center)
- PINE - Program for Internet News and Email (originally the Recursive Acronym PINE Is Not Elm )
- RAID - Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks
- VHS - Video Home System (originally ''Vertical Helical Scan'')
- Chav - claimed to mean "council house and violent", variously said to be derived from chavi (Romany for child), charver (Romany for prostitute), Chat (1950s/1960s slang for promiscuous Chatham girl) or chaff (unwanted part of grain);
- Cop - identified by some as "constable on patrol" (or "citizen on patrol" in the United States ), this originally might not be an acronym at all (origins murky) but any of:
# a reference to grabbing the alleged villain (sharing origins with "it's a fair cop" or even "to cop a feel")
# or could be a shortened form of "Copper" since badges were made from the material in certain cities when professional policing began. Or more likely, a reference to the copper buttons on the blazer of English police, where "Copper" is still a slang term for policeman. Also thought to be from the latin capere, meaning "to capture."
- CQD (a now-disused predecessor to the SOS or '' Mayday '' distress calls) has been variously reinterpreted as Come Quick, Distress!/Disaster!/Danger!/Dammit!
- Fuck - urban legends often give this Vulgarism a backronymic Folk-etymology such as ornication '''U'''nder '''C'''onsent of the '''K'''ing, ound '''U'''nder '''C'''arnal '''K'''nowledge, or '''U'''nlawful '''C'''arnal '''K'''nowledge, or ornication '''U'''nlawful in the '''C'''ommonwealth of the '''K'''ing. {Link without Title}
- Golf - a popular urban legend states that the game of golf originally stood for entlemen '''O'''nly '''L'''adies '''F'''orbidden. {Link without Title}
- Posh - said to stand for ort '''O'''ut '''S'''tarboard '''H'''ome, referring to the most favoured cabin location on ships travelling to and from the east.
- RSVP - Some think to be espond '''S'''o '''V'''ery '''P'''romptly; actually ''répondez s'il vous plaît''- French for ''Respond if you please''.
- Shit - Ship High in Transit
- SOS - Save Our Ship; Save Our Souls; SOS rendered in morse code was an easily recognised signal.
- Tip - an urban legend claims that "tip" (as in a gratuity for services) is an acronym for o '''I'''nsure '''P'''romptness.
- Twink - supposedly for " Teenaged , White , into no Kink ."
- Wop - ith'''o'''ut '''P'''apers, supposedly from the immigration process. In the UK, the derivation is given as "Western Oriental Person" meaning an Oriental immigrant into a Western country. This derogatory term actually comes from the Spanish "guapo", by way of Italian dialect "guappo", both of which mean "handsome".
- Fob - resh '''o'''ff the '''B'''oat, used by Americans to describe immigrants to the United States.
- Fart - ecal '''A'''ir, '''R'''ectally '''T'''ransmitted; actually, the word comes from the old english word for flatulence: feorten.
- Ahimsa is a religious concept which advocates non-violence and a respect for all life; it is Sanskrit for avoidance of himsa. Himsa is injury to sentient beings. It is commonly backronymed as "bstinence from animal products, '''H'''armlessness with reverence for life, '''I'''ntegrity of thought, word, and deed, '''M'''astery over oneself, '''S'''ervice to humanity, nature, and creation, and dvancement of understanding and truth".
- Apgar - a brief medical examination of new-born babies - was named after the doctor who introduced it but can be understood as an acronym for ppearance (skin color), '''P'''ulse (heart rate), '''G'''rimace (reflex irritability), ctivity (muscle tone), '''R'''espiration.
- GNU - Gnu's Not Unix
- H2SO4 ( Sulphuric Acid ) - Hot Hot Searing! Ouch Ouch Ouch Ouch!
- PCMCIA - People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms
- ALSAC (American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities): id to '''L'''eukemia '''S'''tricken merican '''C'''hildren
- Arby's - named after its founders; in the early 1980s the company launched an Advertising campaign that used the backronym "America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir!"
- BP (British Petroleum) - "Beyond Petroleum"
- Grace - od's '''R'''iches '''A'''t '''C'''hrist's '''E'''xpense
- Gospel - od's '''O'''nly '''S'''on '''P'''rovides '''E'''ternal '''L'''ife
- Kiss - eep '''I'''t '''S'''imple, '''S'''tupid
- Kosher - eep '''O'''ur '''S'''ouls '''H'''ealthy '''E'''at '''R'''ight
- KRS One (originally "Kris-1") - nowledge '''R'''eigns '''S'''upreme '''O'''ver '''N'''early '''E'''verybody
- LG (Lucky Goldstar) - ife's '''G'''ood!
- OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) - "Our Purpose, Prevention"
- TCBY - he '''C'''ountry's '''B'''est '''Y'''ogurt
- WYFQ (radio station) - here '''Y'''ou'll '''F'''ind '''Q'''uality
- AIDS - Shortened title of '' America Is Dying Slowly ,'' an AIDS-awareness Album .
- CRTC - Committee for Repression and Thought Control
- Gay - claimed by some gay people to stand for ood '''A'''s '''Y'''ou to assert that homosexuality merits equal status and treatment with heterosexuality; claimed by some people who are against homosexuality to stand for "ot '''A'''IDS '''Y'''et?"
- Pig - When "pig" came into use as derogatory slang for a Police man, some of its targets retaliated by adopting the phrase "Pride, Integrity, Guts".
- AFU - All Fouled Up ( Euphemistic backronym from the original All Fucked Up)
- BFD - ''Binary File Descriptor'' for the Binutils in the GNU project. When Cygnus Support proposed developing the library, Richard Stallman said (correctly) that it would be hard; David's response was "BFD". This became the library name and "Binary File Descriptor" was invented later as the meaning of the letters. (possibly from ''Big Fucking Deal'')
- FUBAR - ouled '''U'''p '''B'''eyond '''A'''ll '''R'''ecognition (backronym from the original Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition).
- NFG - (if the customer asks) ''New, Fully Guaranteed''; (originally ''No Fucking Good''); also used in some circles to stand for New F
---g Guy
- RTFM - Read The Fine Manuals ( Euphemistic backronym from the original Read The Fucking Manual)
- SOL - So Out Of Luck ( Euphemistic backronym from the original Shit Out of Luck)
- BUFF - Big Ugly Fat Fellow. A Euphemistic military acronym referring to the B-52 bomber, this backronym originally stood for (and still stands for, to most airmen) Big Ugly Fat Fucker.
- FAQ - fr:«Foire Aux Questions» (a fair or forum for questions, as a loose translation of en:"Frequently Asked Questions")
- SAP - Originally '' ystem'''A'''nalyse und '''P'''rogrammentwicklung'' ("System Analysis and Program Development") in German, the name of the configurable software package developed by SAP GmbH from 1971 onwards. This has been backronymed by SAP Inc. into English as "Systems, Applications and Products in data processing".
- Akai - Another Kaput Audio Invention
- Bose - Buy Other Sound Equipment, Better Order Something Else
- Koss - K-tel's Obsolete Sound System, Keep Ordering Spare Speakers
- Lear - Lousy Eighttrack Audio Recordings
- Sony - Seems Obsolete Next Year, Soon – Only Not Yet, Send Over Nippon Yen
- Teac - Tapes Eaten And Chewed
- Westinghouse - We're Evil, So Tempting, Idiots Never Go, Houses Over Units, So Evil!
- ATSC - Always The Same Color
- CAM - Costly Add-on Module
- DVB - Deficient Video Bandwidth, Definitely Very Boring, Delivering Virtual Bull
- DVD - Defective Video Display, Delivers Virtual Dreck
- FTA - Folks Talking Arabic , in reference to the large quantity of available free Ethnic Television
- JBL - Junk, But Loud
- JVC - Junk, Very Cheap (originally Japan Victor Company)
- LG - Life's Garbage
- NTSC - Never The Same Color; Never Twice the Same Color; Never Tested Since Christ
- PAL - Peace/Perfect At Last; Picture Always Lousy; Pale And Lurid
- RCA - Really Cheap Audio, Rednecks Can't Agree, Really Crappy Appliance
- SCART - Strange Connector America ns Rarely Try
- SECAM - System Essentially Contrary to the American Method; Shows Every Colour All Murky; Système Elégant Contre les AMéricains (Elegant System Against the Americans - SECAM is the French colour analogue TV system)
- S/PDIF - Strange Plug, Does It Fit? (originally Sony/Philips Digital InterFace)
- VCR - Vile Crap, Regurgitated
- VHS - Virtually Hopeless Signal (originally stood for ''Vertical Helical Scan'' but believed by most people to mean ''Video Home System'')
- Audi - Accelerates Under Demonic Influence; Automatic Unexpected Death Initiator
- Buick - Big Ugly Import Car Killer
- Chevrolet - Can Hear Every Valve Rattling On Long Extended Trips; Cheap Heap Every Valve Rattles Or Leaks Every Time; Can't Hear Excessive Valve Rap Over Lousy Engine Timing
- Chevy - Cheapest Heap Ever Visioned Yet, Cheap Heap Eats Valve s Yearly, Can't Help EVery Yuppie
- Chrysler - Charged High Retail , You'll Subsidise Lee's Early Retirement
- DeLorean - Don't Ever Lend One Rich Easterner Any Narcotics
- Dodge - Drips Oil, Drops Grease, Everywhere; Dead Or Dying Gutless Engines, Dies On Day Guarantee Expires; Dead On Delivery Go Elsewhere; Drive One Darned Good Engine; Don't Over Do it, Go Easy
- Fiat - (Originally an acronym; see "Re-interpreted acronyms" section below)
- Ford - Ferro Oxide Rust Damage; Found On Rubbish Dump; Found On Road Dead; Fix Or Repair Daily (or Figure On Repairing Daily); Fix On Road Daily; Fast Only Rolling Downhill; Flip Over, Read Directions; For Old Retired Drivers; Fucker Only Runs Downhill; Fucked Over Rebuilt Dodge; Ford Owners Recommend Dodge; Fucking Old Rebuilt Dodge. A more praising backronym is First On Race Day. An example of a reverse backronym is Driver Returning On Foot. (also fr: «fabrication ordinaire, réparation dispendieuse», swedish: "Familjen Olssons rullande dass" - Family Olsson's Rolling Dunny or "the Olsson family's rolling toilet")
- Holden - Holes, Oil Leaks, Dents and Engine Noises
- Honda - Had One, Never Did Again
- Hummer - Huge Unnecessary Massive Mobile, Emmissions Ridiculous
- Hyundai - Hope You Understand Nothing's Driveable And Inexpensive, Here's Y U Never Drive An Import
- Jeep - Just Empty Every Pocket; Junk, Each and Every Part; Just Enough Engine Power, Just Enough Essential Parts; (also French : «j'ai épuisé entièrement patience»)
- --- YJ - Yukon Jeep
- --- TJ - Terra Jeep
- Kia - Killed in Action; Killed in Automobile
- Lada - Left At Dump, Abandoned (fr: «laissée au dépotoir, abandonée») (in Dutch: «Langs Achter Duwen Alstublieft», please push from behind)
- Lotus - Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious
- Neon - Nothing Especially Original Now, New Engine Often Needed, Needs Engine? Owner Nervous
- Mazda ( Hiroshima 's revenge) - Made At Zoo (by) Demented Apes
- Mopar - Mostly Old Parts And Rust, My Ol' Plymouth Ain't Runnin' (or My Old Pig Ain't Runnin'); Massively Over Powered And Respected; Mighty OverPowered (or OverPowering), Always Reliable; Motor On Pavement After Race
- Olds/Oldsmobile - Old Lady Driving Slowly, Old Lady Driving Slowly Making Others Behind Infernally Late Everyday
- Pinto - Powerful Incendiary , Neatly Toasts Occupants, Put In Nickle To Operate
- Plymouth - Please Let Your Mama Out Under The Hood
- Pontiac - Poor Old Ninny Thinks It's A Cadillac ("Ninny" can be replaced by "negro", the more offensive term Nigger , or "nutjob" or "native".)
- Repco - Rip Every Poor Cunt Off
- Saturn - Sorry About That Unusual Rattling Noise; Sold As American Technology, Underneath its Really a Nissan
- Subaru - Still Usable But All Rusted Underneath
- Toyota - Too Often Yanks Overprice This Automobile; Taking Our Yen Out - Thanks America!
- Volvo - Vehicle Of Low Velocity Operators
- Yugo - You'll Usually Get Out
- AMC - Another Mediocre Car; nother '''M'''an's '''C'''rap
- BMW - Bring Money in Wheelbarrows; Big Money Waster; Big Mormon Wagon; Break My Window(s); Basic Marin Wheels; Best Machines in the World; Bob Marley and the Wailers; Black Man's Wheels (in UK Afro-Caribbean culture); Break My Wallet ; Be My Wife ; Black Man's Willy ; Bringing More Weight; Bring Mechanic With, Blew My Wad, Big Monetary Waste. A reverse backronym is Wanted Mercedes-Benz . In German: Bayerischer MistWagen (Bavarian Manure Wagon), Bayerische Mistwerke (Bavarian Muck Works), Bring Mir Werkstatt (Bring Me to Workshop) or Bei Mercedes Weggeworfen (Built from Mercedes' Wastebasket - thrown away by Mercedes), Baader-Meinhoff Wagen (after German Terrorist group of the 1970s), Body Made Wrong. In Dutch: Bak Met Wielen (Box Made with Wheels).
- of Hell on Earth ).
- GM - Generally Mediocre, Grinding Metal
- GMC - General Made Crap, Generally Mediocre Crankcase, Get My Coveralls, Garage Man's Companion (also fr: «grincements méchaniques continus»)
- IROC - Italian/Insipid Redneck/Retard Out Cruising; actually named for the International Race Of Champions
- Chevrolet LUV (originally Light Utility Vehicle, a quarter ton pickup truck) - Little (or Low, especially if customised) Useless Vehicle
- MG - Money Gone
- MPV - Mostly Pitiful Vehicle
- NAPA - Not A Part Available
- NASCAR - Non Athletic Sports Created Around Redneck s; Negros Ain't Supposed to Come Around the Racetrack; Not Actually Stock Cars Are Racing
- RAV4 - Really Awful Vehicle
- Saab - Shit, Another Accessory Broken; or Stolen And Always Broken (originally Svenska Aeroplan AB)
- SUV - Stupid Ugly Vehicle, Stupid Useless Vehicle, Sure to be Under their Vehicle (if in a Collision with one), Smog Unleashing Vehicle, Small Unit Vehicle
- UAP - Useless Auto Parts
- VW - Virtually Worthless; Virtual Warranty
- Air India - Airplanes In Repo In Nicaragua, Delay Inevitable Anyway
- Alitalia - Airplane Lands In Tokyo And Luggage In Atlanta; Always Late In Take-off, Always Late In Arrival; A Little Italian Tradition And Lotsa Italian Attitude
- American - Airline Meals Eaten Regularly Induce Cramps and Nausea
- CP Air - Completely Penniless And In Receivership
- Delta - Divert Everyone's Luggage To Atlanta (or any city starting with A); Doesn't/Don't Ever Leave The Airport; Didn't Expect to Land There Anyway; Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive.
- El Al - Every Landing Always Late
- Garuda - Good And Reliable Under Dutch Administration
- Gulf Air - Get Used to Late Flights
- Lufthansa - Let Us Find The Hostess, As No Steward Available; Let Us Fuck The Hostesses And Not Say Anything; Let Us Free The Hostages And Not Shoot Anyone
- Northwest - Nobody Out Ranks This Horrid, Worthless, Excruciatingly Sluggish Transport
- Olympic - Onassis Likes Your Money Paid In Cash
- Pan Am - Pilots Are Not A Must
- Sabena - Such A Bloody/Bad Experience, Never Again
- Sosa - Stay Out, Stay Alive
- Swissair - Sexy Women In Swissair Services Are Indeed Rare
- Tan-Sahsa - Turn Around Now, Stay At Home Stay Alive
- United - Usually Not Inclined To Eliminate Disasters
- USAir - Unfortunately Still Allegheny In Reality
- AWA - America's Worst Airline
- BOAC - Better On A Camel; Better On Air Canada; Bit Of A Charlie; Barely Own Any Clocks; Bring Over American Cash; Boeing Only Aircraft Considered (complaint of British aeroplane industry); Blast Off And Crash
- BWIA - Better Walk If Able; Britain's Worst Investment Abroad; But Will It Arrive?; Bound to Wait In the Airport
- ETOPS - Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim
- KLM - Keeps Losing Money
- LAX - Love And Christ
- PAL - Plane Always Late
- PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) - Please Inform Allah, Pain In the Ass
- Sahsa - Stay At Home, Stay Alive (originally Servicio Aereo de Honduras S.A.)
- TACA - Take A Chance Airlines; (In Spanish:) Tres Accidentes Cada Año (Three Accidents Counted Annually or each year)
- TAP - Take Another Plane; Tamancos Aéreos Portugueses Brazil: Portuguese Airborne Clogs
- TWA - Try Walking Across; Try Walking Asshole; Teeny Weeny Airlines; The Worst Airline; Third World Airlines; Thousands Wandering Aimlessly; Terrorists Welcome Aboard
- UTA - Unlikely To Arrive (originally Union des Transports Aériens)
- VASP - Vomite Aqui Seu Porco (Throw Up Here You Pig - reference to the VASP logo at the barf bag); Várias Aeromoças São Putas (Several Air Stewardesses Are Whores); a famous VASP pilot called Seu Pereira once had a severe illness and his co-workers used to refer to the company as Vamos Ajudar Seu Pereira (Let's Help Seu Pereira) to which he politely replied with a reverse backronym: Pereira Sinceramente Agradece a Vocês (Pereira Sincerely Thank You); Vagabundos Anônimos Sustentados pelos Pais (anonymous vagabonds sustained by their parents) - (originally Viações Aéreas de São Paulo)
- FOX News - Foundation Of Xenophobes Needlessly Embellishing War Stories
- ABC - Annoying Basically Crud, Another Boring Channel, Always Bull Crap, Animal Broadcasting Company (short-lived slogan that appeared during Saturday morning cartoons), Anything But Color
- BBC - Blokes, Blimey Chaps, Blair Broadcasting Corporation, Brow-Beating Communists
- CBC - Canada's Boring Coverage, Canada's Best Commentators, Communist Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcorping Castration
- CKO - Completely Kaput. Off-air.
- CBS - Complete Bull Spreaders, Completely Boring Shows
- CCTV - Closed-Circuit TeleVision
- CMT - Coal Miners' Television; Canned Meat and Turnips
- CNN - Completely Nasty Network, Completely Neophyte Newscasters, Continuously Negative News, Chicken Noodle News, Chicken Noodle Network, Clinton News Network, Commie News Network, Comedy News Network, Communist News Network, Conservative News Network, Contains No News.
- CSTV - Cheap Shot TeleVision
- CTV - Canned Trivial Video
- CW - Can't Wait (refers to the fact that some people want to see CW on the air ASAP); Cool, What is it?; Champions and Winners; Could Work; Continuous Wave ( Morse Code )
- ESPN - Eat Spinach, Plums, and Noodles
- HSN - Have Sex Now
- LIN - Lesbians In Need
- MSG - Must Serve God
- MSNBC - More Stupid News Broadcast Constantly
- MTV - More Turkey and Veal
- NBC - Neutered By Cable; Neutered By Censors ; Never Bull Crap; Nothing But Cosby ; Naruto , Bo^7 , and Caseclosed (sic)
- NPR - National Propoghanda Radio
- PBS - Pretty Bland Stuff, Plainly Boring Scripts, Precious Broadcast ing System ( National Lampoon parody of NY broadcaster WPBS , but "donate million and win our Studio Building s in downtown Manhattan " suggests a WNET 13 Parody ), Petroleum's British Subsidiary (because of sponsorship by oil companies and heavy use of British-originated programming)
- RKO - Red Kills Orange, Really Kinky Orgasms
- SBS - Sex Between Soccer - (Australian multi-lingual public broadcaster which regularly screens soccer games, and international movies with frequent nudity and sex scenes), Soccer Broadcasting Station, Stupid Brits Suck
- UPN - Unlimited Programming for Negros, UnderPaid Niggers, Urban Programming Network, UnPopular Network, Urban People's Network, Used Parts Network
- WB - Wasted Bandwidth, We're Black!, Watched Barely, What a Bore
- YES - You Eat Shit?
- Ada - A computer Programming Language named after Ada Lovelace , with intended-humorous backronym of Another Damn Acronym.
- Admin - A Dickhead Meanie on the InterNet; A Dumbass Making Intelligence Nonexistant
- Apple - Arrogance Produces Profit-Losing Entity
- Java - Just Another Vague Acronym; Just Another Vain Attempt
- Linux - Linux Is Not UniX; LINus' UniX; LINUs' miniX
- Macintosh - Most Applications Crash (or Machine Always Crashes), If Not, The Operating System Hangs
- Microsoft - My Incompetent Computer Randomly Operates Sensibly/Stupidly On Floating point Tasks; Most Intelligent Customers Realise Our Software Only Fools Teenagers (or Toddlers)
- Mod - Mean Old Dickhead
- Multics - Many Unnecessary Long Tables In Core Simultaneously
- Pentium - Produces Erroneous Numbers Through Incorrect Understanding Of Math , PC Errors Not Tolerable I'd Use Macintosh
- Perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language; Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister; Parse Every Random Line (in honor of the extensions proposed for Perl 6 ); Pathetic Excuse for a Real Language; Polymorphic Existential Recursive Lambdas.
- Ping - Packet InterNet Groper (more rarely, Packet InterNet Grouper)
- Seagate - Super Explosive After God Attack The Earth
- Sid - Still In Development
- Spam - Shit Posted As Mail; System Plugged (with) Annoying Messages; Stupid Person's AdvertiseMent; Stupid Puerile Ad Mail; Stuff (or Sewage) Posing As Mail; Send(ing) People Annoying Mail/Messages; Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages; Stupid Posts And Messages
- Twain - There Wasn't Any Interesting Name; Technology Without An Interesting Name
- Windows - Windows Is Not a Defined Operating/Working System (this is actually a Recursive Backronym ); Will Install Needless Data On Whole System.
- Vista - Viruses Infiltrate with Spyware, Trojans and Adware. Viruses, Idiocy, Spyware, Trojans and Adware. Vastly Inferior System To Apple.
- AMOS - A Mound Of Shit
- AOL - Almost On Line; America Off Line; Assholes On Line; American OverLords; Army Of Lamers; Always Off Line, America Outta Line
- APL - A Perfect Language; A Preposterous Language; Another Programming Language; similar others
- ASP - Awfully Slow Pages
- ATM - A Terrible Mistake.
- BASIC - Bill's Attempt to Seize Industry Control, Banal Annoyingly Slow Interpretive Computing
- BUD - Big Useful Dish (for C Band Satellite fans, term was previously defined as "Big Ugly Dish")
- BUMP - Bring Up My Post
- C&W - Clueless & Witless (Cable & Wireless)
- COBOL - Completely Obscure, Basically Obsolete Language (or Completely Obscure Boring Old Language); Compiles Only Because Of Luck; Copy of BASIC, Only Longer
- CRTC - Can't Really Tell if it's Canadian , Canadians Rarely Talk on Cellphones
- CYGNUS - CYGNUS, Your GNU Support ( Recursive Acronym )
- DEC - Do Expect Cuts
- DOS - quick 'n' Dirty Operating System; Defunct/Defective Operating System; Dumb Operating System
- DMCA - Don't Make Content Accessible
- DRM - Draconian Restrictions Management/Digital Rights Mismanagement/Microsoft Ready for Domination/Don't Read Me
- EMACS - Escape, Meta, Alt, Control, Shift; EMACS Makes A Computer Slow; Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping; (In German:) EMACS Macht Alle Computer Schön (EMACS makes all computers good)
- EPOC (former name of Symbian OS for mobile phones) - Electronic Piece Of Cheese
- FAQ - Frequently Avoided Questions
- FM - Fuck Me!
- FORTH - Found On Really Tiny Hardware
- FCC - During the heyday of Citizen's Band Radio , those who operated illegally or on the edge of the law called the Federal Communications Commission the Friendly Candy Company or Fat Chance Charlie. Critics of the FCC also use "Fuckers, Cocksuckers, and Cunts."
- GNU - GNU's Not Unix; GNU Needs Users ( Recursive Backronyms ), Gates Now Unhappy
- GNU EMACS - Generally Not Used Except by Middle Aged Computer Scientists.
- GOATSE - GameSurge Offensive Apprehension and Tactical Strike Evaluation, Guy Opens his Ass To Show Everyone
- HAL - Decronym (one letter before) of IBM
- HP - High Price
- IBM - Inferior But Marketable; It's Better Manually; Idiots Become Managers; Insidious Black Magic; International Brotherhood of Magicians; It's Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement; I Blame Microsoft (see OS/2 ); I Buy Macintosh; Internal Bit Mixing; I've Been Moved (by 1950s and 1960s employees in reference to frequent relocations); Inmensa Bola de Mierda (Spanish, Immense Bowl of Manure or huge piece of shit)
- IIS - It Isn't Secure
- ISDN - I Still Don't Need it; It Still Does Nothing; I Smell Dollars Now; Intentionally Slow Dumb Networking
- LISP - Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses (alternatively Silly/Stupid Parentheses); Lots of Infuriating Silly Parentheses; Lost In Silly Parentheses; Lost In a Sea of Parentheses; Lots of Idiotic, Silly Parentheses (after its syntax involving a lot of parentheses indeed).
- MIPS - Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed
- MCSE - Must Consult Some Expert; Must Consult Someone/Somebody Experienced; Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert
- MMU - Magical Mystery Unit
- NFS - Not Fully Serviceable
- (one letter after) of VMS the previous OS designed by Dave Cutler the designer of NT
- NTFS - Neatly Toasted File System, Now Try Finding Something
- OSF - Oppose Sun Forever
- PHP - People Hate Perl, PHP: Hyperprocessed Poo, PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
- Prolog - PRObably the Language Of God
- RAM - Rarely Adequate Memory
- RPG - Really Poor Grammar; Rapidly Programmed Garbage
- SCSI - System Can't See It (referring to inherent problems with SCSI drivers under Microsoft Windows)
- SQL - Seems Quite Lousy/Ludicrous, Slow Queries Lastingly
- SSDD - Same Shit, Different Day
- TIFF - Thousands of Incompatible File Formats (referring to divergent third-party extensions that have compromised the portability of the format)
- TSR - Trash System Randomly
- UDP - Unreliable Datagram Protocol
- Vi - Velocity Inclusive; Very Inconvenient;
- WWW - WorldWide Wait; Wait Wait Wait
- Wi-Fi - Wireless Internet, Free Internet; We Inevitably Find Interference
- Windows XP - Cross out your Privacy, eXtended Problems, eXtra Pain, XiaoPing , eXtra Profits, eXtra Pain, eXtra Processor, eXtra Pathetic, eXplode PC, eXtremely Proprietary, eXceedingly Putrid, eXceedingly poor, eXponential Pricing, eXPensive, eXPired, eXtra Problems, linuX-Promoting, eXtra Payment, eXPerimental, eXtra Profits, eXcremental Pile, eXclude Pirates, eXperiencing Problems
- Windows Me - Massively Evil, Murderously Evil, Millennium Eviction, Millionth Edition
- BA - BrokeAss
- BS - BullShit
- - More Shit; More of the Same
- MBBS - Master of Bullshit, Bullshit Specialist
- PhD - Piled Higher and Deeper; PissHead's Diploma; Permanent Head Damage; Pigeon-hole dissertation; Plumbing/Heating Diploma; Pretty Huge Dick
- CMSU - Call Me Stupid University; School for Dyslexic Marines
- EMU - Eternal MisUnderstanding
- FAU - Find Another University
- GNVQ - Generally Not Very Qualified; Going Nowhere Very Quickly
- GED - Good Enough Diploma, "Good Enough" Degree
- HND - Has No Degree
- LPN - Let's Pretend Nurse
- MBA - Makes Big Assholes; Many Brains Annihilated; Master of Bugger All; Mediocre But Arrogant
- MIT - Made In Taiwan
- NKU - No Knowledge University
- NYU - Now You're Unemployed
- SDSU - Still Drunk, Still Undeclared
- SPU - Spouse Potential University
- TWU - The Worst University
- UCI - University of Chinese Immigrants; University of Civics and Integras ; University of Chinese Idiots
- UCLA - University of Caucasians Lost among Asians, U Can't Leave America, University of California's Lousy Athletes
- UCR - University of Cal Rejects, University of Chinese Refugees, University of Chinese Retards
- UCSB - University of Casual Sex and Beer; U Can Study Buzzed
- UCSC - Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp, University of Constantly Stoned Crackers
- UC - University of Criminals
- UBC - University of a Billion Chinese
- UDC - University for Dumb Children
- UMBC - Under Major Building Construction; U Must Be Crazy
- UNLV - Unfortunately No Longer Virgins (the official meaning of Hip Hop Group UNLV 's name). In the city of Vancouver, Washington , this has become University of Never Leaving Vancouver, likewise with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
- USC - University of Spoiled Children; University of Spoiled Coed s; Up Shit Creek; University of South Central ; University of Second Choice; University of Second Class; U Suck Cock; University of Stuck-up Children; United States of California; University of Stupid Chinese
- USD - University of Spoiled Daughters
- UNC - University of No Credit; University of Nice Chicks
- UWO - Undergrads Wait Outside
- ICC - I Can't Count; I Can't Spell
- Beastie Boys - oys '''E'''ntering '''A'''narchistic '''S'''tates '''T'''oward '''I'''nternal '''E'''xcellence, or possibly oys '''E'''ntering '''A'''ltered '''S'''tates '''T'''o '''I'''nduce '''E'''cstasy
- Big Daddy Kane - ing '''A'''siatic, '''N'''obody's '''E'''qual.
- Group W - Great! Really Old UnderPaid Workers!
- KISS - nights '''I'''n '''S'''atan's '''S'''ervice
- Logo - Lesbians Overweight-Got Oranges?
- - Derided by some as etards '''A'''ttempting '''P'''oetry; with the entrance of white rappers like Eminem , this can also be further retro-fitted using the slang term '''C'''racker etards '''A'''ttempting '''P'''oetry.
- Westwood One - We Especially Steal Television's Weaker, Older, and Out-of-style Deadbeats, and Open New Establishments
- Wu-Tang Clan - itty '''U'''npredictable '''T'''alent '''A'''nd '''N'''atural '''G'''ame; e '''U'''sually '''T'''ake '''A'''ll '''N'''iggers' '''G'''arments.
- AC/DC - nti- '''C'''hrist / '''D'''evil's '''C'''hildren
- ATHF - Americans Tend to Have Fun; Always Talking to Harry and Florinda; Assistance in Telemarketing, Hacking, and Fornicating
- - Can't See It
- --- Similarly, could be expanded to Can't See It? Not Yet...
- DS - Die Satan!, Dark Sun, Dallas Stars , Done with Sex, Deal With Satan , Dark Skies, Dark Shadows
- EPCOT - very '''P'''erson's '''C'''ountry, '''O'''nly '''T'''iny
- FMA - For More Airtime; Fuck Me In The Ass ; Foreign Money Association; Florida , Mississippi , and Alabama
- NFL - No Fun League
- NTA - Not That Awful, Not That American, Never Totally Anticipated, Now To Atlanta, Never Tell All, New Theaters Anticipated, No Theaters Anticipated, Not a Theater Available, Nice Timing Asshole, Not Today Asshole, No Time at All, Nice Try Asshole
- , used by the Australian Office for Film and Literature Classification was used for pornography: Non-Violent Erotica. Some said it stood for Not Very Entertaining.
- SNL - So Not Lucky, So Not in Love
- Acme is the canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate, and non-functional Gadget ry in Warner Brothers ' Road Runner Cartoon s, commonly backronymed to "A (or American) Company Making (or Manufacturing) Everything".
- Adidas - Used once as a marketing tagline for the athletic apparel maker (named after its founder Adolph "ADI" DASsler) — All Day I Dream About Sports/Soccer. Also title of songs by KoЯn and JC Chasez : "All Day I Dream About Sex". A popular schoolground one in the UK is "After Dinner I Do A Shit". A well-known Spanish version would be: "Asociación De Idiotas Dispuestos A Superarse" (Association of idiots willing to get better). A popular Dutch version is "Alleen Domme Idioten Doen Aan Sport" (Only dumb idiots do sports). Also a reverse backronym, "Sex/Sports All Day Is Definitely American".
- Chaps Ralph Lauren - Coulda Had A Polo Shirt - Used as a derogatory term towards people who opted for the less expensive CHAPS line over the more expensive Polo Ralph Lauren
- Gap — "Gay And Proud"; "Gay Ass People"; "Gay Ass Place"
- Nike - Needs International Kids Employed
- Puma - oor '''U'''nprofessional '''M'''imic kry of '''A'''didas; robier '''U'''nbedingt '''M'''al '''A'''didas (de), oofter '''U'''nder '''M'''edical '''A'''ttention
- Fila - Finally I Left Adidas - as the response of a disgruntled Adidas employee, actually the last name of the founders.
- DHL - Driver's Halfway Lost
- DSE - Divided States of Embarrassment
- FYI - Found Yesterday. Interested?
- GE - Good & Evil, Grim & Evil
- NDS ( Smartcard Vendor ) - No Darned Security
- NEPA - The Nigeria n National Electric Power Authority, which because of its variable quality of service is commonly called Never Expect Power Anywhere or No Electric Power Anticipated. When the company became a public limited company and changed its formal name to NEPA PLC, the backronym was changed to No Electric Power Available, Please Light Candle .
- NSB - No Safe Bet
- OTC - Distillery Trademark , originally Of The Craft; became Off To Canada during Prohibition
- UPS - United Package Smashers ; pronounced as "oops"; United Pot Smokers
- A3D - All Three Dead (reference to bomber with three man crew and no ejection seats)
- . As a backward backronym, tags on soldier's BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform) can be read "Yes My Retarded Ass Signed Up." Also, Uncle Sam Aint Released Me Yet!
- CVE - Combustible, Volatile (or Vulnerable) and Expendable
- Marine - Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential; My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment, Math And Reading Is Not Easy; Mostly Army Rejects in Navy Equipment.
- Navy - Never Again Volunteer Yourself; No Anal Virgins Yet.
- NUTS - Nuclear Utilization Target Selection
- SB2C - Son-of-a-Bitch, 2nd Class
- SOS - Save Our Ship; Save Our Souls; Same Old Shit; Shitting OurSelves; Stuck On Stupid; Shit On A Shingle (popular Navy food)
- BATF - Burn All The Families; Burn All Toddlers First (in reference to the Waco disaster)
- BFD - Used as the apathetic "Big Fucking Deal" acronym everywhere else, this appears on Brockville Fire Department Trucks
- CIWS - Christ, It Won't Shoot
- CID - Coppers In Disguise; more colourfully, Cunts In Disguise
- DEA - Don't Expect Anything
- FBI - Full-Blooded Indian; Full Blooded Italians (wrestlers in the ECW / WWE ); Fry Bread Inspector; From Big Island; Federal Breast Inspector (many are popular T-shirt slogans); also Federal Bureau of Incineration; Fire and Brimstone, Inc. (in reference to the Waco disaster); Fearless Band of Idiots; Forever Bothering Italians (in reference to their string of Mafia prosecutions); Female Body Inspector; Female Boobie Inspector
- FTA - Fun, Travel, Adventure (the US Army's recruiting slogan during the 1960s ); Fuck the Army! (used by US troops in Vietnam to express their displeasure with the Army)
- GRC - (Gendarmerie Royal du Canada, French for RCMP)- Gravel Road Cop, Grand Republic of China
- HRT - Hostage Roasting Team (in reference to the Waco Disaster )
- JAG - Just A Guess
- Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov LaGG-1 and LaGG-3 - kirovanny '''g'''arantirovanny '''g'''rob ("guaranteed varnished coffin" - лакированный гарантированный гроб). Actually a Fighter Aircraft made of laminated wood.
- MOAB - Mother Of All Bombs (originally Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb,a US Army weapon)
- MRE (army food) - Mediocre Rarely Edible; Meal s Rejected by Ethiopia /Everyone/the Enemy
- NCIS - Never Cared to Insult Someone
- NSA - No Such Agency; Not Secret Anymore; Never Say Anything
- OD (Officer of the Day) - livia '''D'''eHavilland (as noted by Hawkeye Pierce on MASH )
- OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) - Official Party Poopers (also, the OPP backronymed their own name as "Our Purpose, Prevention"), Other Peoples' Privates/Property (official meaning of Naughty By Nature song title "OPP")
- RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) - "Refill Coffee Mug, Please"
- TSA - Thousands Standing Around; Taking Scissors Away
- USMC - Uncle Sam's Misguided Children; U. Signed the Motherfucking Contract.
- WRNS - We're Really Not Sure
- ACLU - Anti-Christian Liberal/Lawyer Union, among others (backronyming the ACLU is common, especially among political conservatives)
- CIO - Career Is Over
- KMFDM - Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode; Kylie Minogue Fans Don't Masturbate; KMFDM Makes Freaky Damn Music (or Funky Dance Music) ( Recursive Acronym ); Kenobi Made Farmboy Do Magic, Keep Madonna From Doing Movies
- MNF - Math's No Fun!
- NFL - Not For Long; No Family Life/League; No Fun League
- NHL - No Hockey League; Now Have Lockout
- S&M - standing and modeling (in reference to Fetishwear affectionados)
- PTL - Pass the Lube , Pass The Loot , Pay The Lady (common during the Jimmy Bakker/Jimmy Swaggart scandals of the 1980 s)
- VIP - Very Impatient Pest ; Vamos Invadir essa Pôrra (Let's Invade This Fucking Place)
- Yaoi - YAmete, Oshiri Itai! - "Stop, my butt hurts!"; You Americans are Overtly Idiotic
- Yiff - Young, Innocent, Fuckable Furry
- Veto - Void Every Time Overtly
- CCCP - Clinton Complete Care Plan (from critics who considered the failed proposal to be Left-wing ); Companheiros, Cuidado Com o Pelé (Companions, watch out for Pelé); Cucurucucuuuuu Palooooma!
- GDR - Guard Dogs Ready, God Damn Russians, God Damn Republicans
- FEMA - Fatal Emergencies Mismanaged Again, Failure and Embarrassment to My America
- GOP - Greedy Old People; Grand Old Party; Grinches On Parade; God's Own Party (reference to supposed domination by Religious Right )
- IMF - Insurrection , Misery & Famine
- NATO - No Action, Talk Only
- NPWS - No People Welcome, Sorry (from their habit of making some National parks very difficult to access) - (originally National Park s and Wildlife Service ( Australia ))
- PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals
- PRC - Peking's Repressive Communism
- PSAC (union) - People Standing Around Complaining (fr: AFPC = «Association des Fortement Paresseux du Canada»)
- PRI - (Mexico's Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party)) uro '''R'''atero '''I'''nmoral (Immoral Crooks Only); Providence, Rhode Island
- RESPECT The Unity Coalition , a left wing Political Party in the UK where RESPECT was later explained officially as Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community and Trade Unionism, or among its opponents as Recently Expelled Scottish Politician Endorses Communist Tyranny {Link without Title} .
- USA - Unbelievably-Sized Arsenal s; U Suck Angle (for World Wrestling Entertainment performer Kurt Angle whom the fans have traditionally chanted "You Suck" at.)
From bottom to top:
- CMG - Call Me God
- KCMG - Kindly Call Me God, Kings Call Me God
- GCMG - God Calls Me God
These terms were mentioned in a scene of the BBC sitcom '' Yes Minister ''.
- Arkansas - Army of Rednecks, Killers, Americans, Nimrods, Suckers, And Socialists
- Boycott PETCO - Break Open Your Cold Ones, Toast The Padres, Enjoy This Championship Orginazation! (Found in one of the bricks in 2004)
- Esso - Every Sucker Sells Oil
- - Lawyers Are Wimps
- Mabo - Make A Better Offer
- Minun - Minun Is Not a University Nerd ( Recursive Acronym )
- Florida - Fornication Leads One Right Into Dangerous Areas
- Idaho - I'm Developing A Hard On
- Nevada - Never Enter Vaginas At Dusk, Alphonse
- Virginia - Vaginas Indicate Real Girls In Nearly All Instances
- Illinois - It Looks Like It's Never On Its Side
- Mississippi - Maybe Injecting Some Semen Into Someone's Sensitive Interior Produces Progeny, Indeed!
- ESRB - Eat Shit, you Rating Bastards!
- FTRA - Fuck The Reagan Administration
- MGM - More Golden Money, Mississippi (or any state starting with M) General Motors, Mmm...Good Mints
- STFU - Shut The Fuck Up
- UHF - U Have Friends
- VCL (originally Velan Central Library) - Vixen Controlled Library
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