The Simplified blog

An article in the February issue of Maverick* says that the acronym is ‘often used as a tool, and it is not a tool of convenience – it is one of obfuscation, and one we should regard as deeply suspicious’.

The author, Richard Poplak, is mostly writing about the use of acronyms in military and politics. But his view also applies to the types of documents we all deal with everyday.

Take PMBs and MSAs and PINs and PUKs and HTML and the DPE and the DTI and the LOA and SAPS and ATBs and CPs and EPL and LR and NPOs and IP and another IP. They’re all common terms. Or are they?

Chances are, you won’t know all of them. That’s the problem with acronyms (and with jargon as a whole). It excludes those who are not familiar with that particular field. Which is fine… until you’re the one excluded.

When I encounter these WMDs (Weapons of Mass Deception of course), I’m always tempted to use the words of Inspector Fowler from Ben Elton’s ‘The Thin Blue Line’.

When faced with the police-speak of his colleagues, he asks for a translation ‘for those of us who do not speak complete twit’.

*’Acronyms? Simplicity my ASS!’ by Richard Poplak