By Chris Cosci

By definition, an acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name. For example, UPS stands for United Parcel Service. NBC is the National Broadcasting Company. And UCLA is the University of California - Los Angeles. Thanks to our shrinking attention spans and the fast-paced world of computers, acronyms and abbreviations are taking over our culture. Gone are the International House of Pancakes, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Federal Express. Here to stay are IHOP, KFC, and FedEx.

But in our rush to turn every product's name into a set of initials, we sometimes forget what the initials represent. In some cases, the meaning has become so lost that there are people who claim the meaning doesn't exist anymore. Take DVD, for example. Depending on which source you read, the letters originally stood for either Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc. Because nobody can agree on the true origin, most people now officially claim that DVD doesn't stand for anything.

So this is where we have come. We can't agree what the letters stand for, so we just say they stand for nothing. But without any history or original context, using these letters make as much sense as calling them FPWs. It almost makes one long for the day of VHS tapes, when we knew that VHS stood for... actually, people don't agree on that one, either. The more accepted explanation is Video Home System, but some people insist that it stands for Vertical Helical Scan. And they say technology is supposed to make our lives easier.

When acronyms finally lose their meaning, they become what some people call "pseudo-acronyms." And pseudo-acronyms are not limited to recordable media. In fact, they are becoming very popular in the world of cable television. For example, ESPN is now officially considered a pseudo-acronym. At one time called the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, ESPN has since dropped its full name and is only known by its four-letter name. GSN, formerly the Game Show Network, has recently followed suit. And although it may not be official, I'm sure we can all agree that MTV has become a pseudo-acronym, since they seem to have long forgotten that the M stands for Music.

Looking back, the United States actually has an unusual history of initials that stand for nothing. Look at June 6, 1944, the date of the Normandy invasion in World War II. This is commonly called D-Day. But what does that initial D stand for? Technically, nothing. You see, when there is no specific date for the start of an operation, the military refers to the start time as D-Day and H-Hour. The D is just a variable, like x in a math formula.

After D-Day, the next U.S. president elected was Harry S. Truman. His middle initial? It doesn't stand for anything. In fact, in the same way the some people debate the V in DVD, people debate whether to put a period or not after the S in Truman's name. Some people claim that the S is his full middle name and therefore requires no period. Others are persistent that the S is still an initial, and all initials should have a period. Seeing that Truman himself used a period, and the period is used in official names such as the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library, I think this is one debate that can be put to rest.

In case all of this wasn't enough, we still have what some people call "recursive acronyms." These are acronyms that incorporate the acronym itself into the name the initials represent. For example, the full title of a certain popular credit card company is VISA International Service Association (or VISA for short). I'll give you a moment to let that one sink in.

Is there an end in sight for all of this madness? I would say no. In fact, as we continue to abbreviate our communication using silly acronyms (e.g., LOL for laughing out loud), things can only get worse. IMHO, it's just too much. But, in the online world, WYSIWYG. Confused? Just check out a chat room FAQ. TTFN.