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REDUNDANT ACRONYMS THAT ARE REDUNDANT

12/13/2019

3 Comments

 
There's a rather delightful concept called RAS syndrome, where RAS means "redundant acronym syndrome". This describes situations when there's accidental repetition in a word following an acronym. Here are some common examples:ATM (automatic teller machine) machine
  • ISBN (international standard book number) number
  • RPG (role-playing game) game
  • HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) virus
  • LAN (local area network) network
  • LCD (liquid crystal display) display
  • PDF (portable document format) format
  • CNN (cable news network) network
  • BBC (British broadcasting corporation) corporation
  • IBM (International Business Machines) machine
  • OPEC (organization of petroleum exporting countries) countries
  • IRA (individual retirement account) account
​I think it's really cool how those tautologies are used in everyday (even professional) parlance and I just wanted to share that.
3 Comments
Duncan Reynolds
12/20/2019 11:13:40 pm

The one I've heard most often is PIN number

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Merritt Nenneman
12/23/2019 09:32:46 pm

SSN is another big one.

I'd share this, but my coworkers already have too much fodder.

Reply
Andrew
12/27/2019 03:21:13 am

Also ATM machine

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    Hello! I'm Adam Aleksic, a senior studying government and linguistics at Harvard University, where I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy trivia, politics, vexillology, geography, board games, conlanging, art history, and law. 
      If I don't cover it soon, I probably already did it
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