acronymI saw a post over at the Corner today and was amused by it. It reminded me of the acronym machines in the military and the aerospace industry that strive to give a perky name to an otherwise dull sounding description.

Here’s the Corner post by ‘the Derb:’

Legislative Onomastics [John Derbyshire]

Lessee, we’ve had the SAVE Act (Secure America with Verification and Enforcement), the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), the CLEAR Act (Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal — no, me neither), and now the GIVE Act (Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education).

I hereby propose the POPNLWNMUBFTOAFGATFWTFI Act. That will be the Prevention Of Proposed New Laws With Names Made Up By First Thinking Of A Feel-Good Acronym Then Finding Words To Fit It Act.

If that’s too much of a mouthful, we could just call it the Stop Manipulative Initial Letter Euphemizing (SMILE) Act.

As for the ultimate acronym:

A Contrived Reduction Of Nomenclature Yielding Mnemonics
(ACRONYM)