TLA Overload
Paul Boutin once observed that the biggest obstacle to progress in computer science may be the finite supply of TLAs — that is, Three-Letter Acronyms.
Note this: TLA is a self-describing word. (We’ll give it the status of a word for the sake of the argument.) Let’s call such a word “autological”. Now... what is the status of the word “non-autological” — is it autological or not? Heh heh...
In fact, there are just 26³ such acronyms: fewer than 18,000. No wonder there are some collisions out there. This page lists some of the ones I’ve come across “in the wild”.
Since I started compiling this list of TLAs found in the wild I have discovered a Web site for looking up acronyms. I will keep updating it, but only with TLA ambiguities that I personally discover and puzzle over.
- TLA - Three-Letter Acronym, Trial Lawyers Association, ...
- AMD - Andrew Malcolm Duncan, Advanced Micro Devices, Age-related Macular Degeneration, Active Matrix Display
- PDR - Physician's Desk Reference, Playa Del Rey
- ISP - Internet Service Provider, Idaho [presumably others too] State Police
- ATM - Automatic Teller Machine, Asynchronous Transfer Mode
- DES - Data Encryption Standard, Di-Ethyl Stilbestrol
- STD - System Target Decoder, Sexually Transmitted Disease, Subscriber Trunk Dialing
- DVM - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Distance Vector Multicast
- PDA - Personal Digital Assistant, Push-Down Automaton, Public Display of Affection, Progressive Democrats of America
- PCR - Polymerase Chain Reaction, Peak Cell Rate
- CPA - Certified Public Accountant, Cost Per Acquisition, Coalition Provisional Authority
- BAC - Binary Asymmetric Channel, Blood Alcohol Content
- PDF - Portable Document Format, Probability Density Function, Pigment Dispersing Factor
- CFG - Control Flow Graph, Context-Free Grammar
- CFL - Consolidated Freight Lines, Context-Free Language
- DOS - Disk Operating System, Denial Of Service
- ADT - Abstract Data Type, American District Telegraph
- AES - Audio Engineering Society, Advanced Encryption Standard
- TTL - Transistor-Transistor Logic, Time To Live, Through The Lens
- EIA - Engineering Institute of America, Exercise-Induced Asthma
- CRT - Cathode Ray Tube, C Run Time
- LWP - Light Weight Process, Library for WWW in Perl
- DSL - Digital Subscriber Line, Domain-Specific Language
- ISO - International Standards Organization, Incentive Stock Option
- API - Application Programming Interface, Academic Performance Index
- PSA - Public Service Announcement, Prostate Surface Antigen, Production Sharing Agreement
- TCL - Transfer, Clipping, and Lighting, Tool Control Language
- UPS - Uninterruptable Power Supply, United Parcel Service
- MDA - Model-Driven Architecture, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Methylene Dioxy-Amphetamine
- PIM - Platform-Independent Model, Personal Information Manager
- TPA - Third Party Administrator, Tissue Plasminogen Activator
- CRC - Cyclic Redundancy Check, Class-Responsibility-Collaboration, Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse, Civil Rights Congress
- DNS - Do Not Substitute, Domain Name Server
- DAW - Dispense As Written, Digital Audio Workstation
- THC - ThermoHaline Circulation, Tetra Hydro Cannabinol
- SCI - Sensitive Compartmentalized Information, String Cheese Incident, Spinal Cord Injury
- IED - Improvised Explosive Device, Intermittent Explosive Disorder
- UCI - Union Cycliste International, University of California at Irvine
- LSD - Lysergic Acid [Säuer in German] Diethylamide, Long Slow Distance, Librae Solidi Denarii [Pounds Shillings Pence in Latin], Line Sharing Device, Limited Slip Differential, Least Significant Digit
- EMT - Emergency Medical Technician, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
- RMA - Return Merchandise Authorization, Resource Management Account
- PCB - Poly-Chlorinated Biphenyl, Process Control Block, Printed Circuit Board, Pakistan Cricket Board
- MVP - Most Valuable Player, Minimum Viable Product
- EPS - Encapsulated PostScript, Earnings Per Share, Engineering Production Support
- BOM - Byte Order Mark, Bill Of Materials
- CSV - Comma Separated Variables, Core Strategic Vision
- NIH - National Institute of Health, Not Invented Here
- SLA - Software Licensing Agreement, Symbionese Liberation Army
- CGI - Clinton Global Initiative, Common Gateway Interface, Computer Graphics Interface
- EOF - End Of File, Enterprise Objects Framework
- CCD - Charge-Coupled Device, Colony Collapse Disorder
- POS - Point Of Sale, Piece Of Shit
- NRA - National Rifle Association, National Recovery Administration
- ATP - Adenosine Tri-Phosphate, Association of Tennis Professionals, Automotive Theft Protection
- SWF - ShockWave Flash, Single White Female
- ICU - Intensive Care Unit, International Components for Unicode
- ISA - Industry Standard Architecture, Infectious Salmon Anemia, Instruction Set Architecture, International Students Association
- RPG - Rocket-Propelled Grenade, Role-Playing Game
- SPL - Sound Pressure Level, Standard PHP Library
- OCR - Optical Character Recognition, Ocean-Canyon-Ridge, Office of Civil Rights
- EPR - Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, Expert Professional Repair
- JGB - Japanese Government Bonds, Jerry Garcia Band
- FTP - File Transfer Protocol, Free The People
- AAA - Americal Automobile Associatin, American Arbitration Association
- ROM - Read-Only Memory, Range Of Motion
- PGP - Pretty Good Privacy, Personal Genome Project
- SNP - Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, Scottish National Party
- WPA - Works Progress Administration, Wi-Fi Protected Access
- WTC - World Trade Center, Well-Tempered Clavier
- ABS - Anti-Lock Braking System, American Bladesmith Society
- MSG - Mono-Sodium Glutamate, Madison Square Garden
- PNG - Portable Network Graphic, Papua-New Guinea
- NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement, New Drug Application
- EPA - Environmental Protection Agency, EicosaPentaenoic Acid
- SDK - Software Development Kit, Streamlined Dolphin Kick
- DOJ - Department Of Justice, Drunk On Job
- GMT - Greenwich Mean Time, Giant Magellan Telescope
- NSA - National Security Administration, No Strings Attached, No Such Agency
- SEC - South Eastern Conference, Securities and Exchange Commission
- PCM - Pulse Code Modulation, Please Call Me
- GCD - Greatest Common Divisor, Grand Central Dispatch
- FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fragile Binary Interface
- DFT - Discrete Fourier Transform, Density Functional Theory
- RAF - Royal Air Force, Red Army Faction
- CIT - California Institute of Technology, Commercial Investment Trust
- SOB - Shortness of Breath, Son Of a Bitch
- CIA - Central Intelligence Agency, Culinary Institute of America, Channel Islands Airlines, Cairo International Airport
- DOM - Document Object Model, 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Methylamphetamine
- TLC - Tender Loving Care, The Learning Channel
- CDC - Control Data Corporation, Centers for Disease Control
- GCC - Gnu Compiler Collection, Gulf Coast Community, Gulf Cooperation Council, Glendale Community College
- CME - Continuing Medical Education, Coronal Mass Ejection, Chicago Mercantile Exchange
- PLA - People’s Liberation Army, Programmable Logic Array
- DSP - Digital Signal Processing, Disabled Students Program
- PCH - Pacific Coast Highway, Publisher's Clearing House
- IRA - Individual Retirement Account, Irish Republican Army
- MEK - Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Mujahedin-e Khalq
- LOL - Lots Of Love, Laughing Out Loud
- FDR - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Flight Data Recorder
- NPR - National Public Radio, NeuroPeptide Receptor
- DCT - Discrete Cosine Transform, Daily Conditioning Treatment, Divine Command Theory
- PPC - Power PC, Pay Per Click
- PBS - Public Broadcasting System, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- ISO - International Standards Organization, In Search Of
- USC - University of Southern California, United Somali Congress
- SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission, South Eastern Conference
- HRC - Human Rights Campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton
- CME - Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Continuing Medical Education
- KVM - Keyboard-Video-Mouse, Kernel-Based Virtual Machine
- OOP - Out Of Pocket, Object-Oriented Programming
- SDI - State Disability Insurance, Strategic Defense Initiative
- FSM - Finite State Machine, Flying Spaghetti Monster
- EDL - Edit Decision List, Entry Descent and Landing
- CAA - Council on African Affairs, Creative Artists Agency