Can you name the meanings of these everyday acronyms?

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Everyday Acronyms Quiz

Rating:	Report a mistake
Published: May 7th, 2009
Category: Miscellaneous
Plays: 132,203

Tags: acronym, meaning, everyday

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	slew:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:23 GMT	2 points
	Love this quiz!

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	amorris525:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:30 GMT	6 points
	very fun quiz, giovonni, they are strict for a reason, that is what they are called... And I missed a bunch due to that too, but i'm not complaining.

	Mapmaker:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:30 GMT	10 points
	TIP? That's a backronym if I've ever heard one.

	MPJohnson34:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:33 GMT	5 points
	For some reason it did not accept my correctly spelled answer for DVD.

	James:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:34 GMT	9 points
	Great game, but needs to be more forgiving, and just focus on words that form the acronym.

	dan snyder:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:38 GMT	7 points
	no, with cars it is brake, so it would be braking

	Babomomebeo:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:39 GMT	39 points
	was the "the" in "laser" that important? i think if you can get the five letters of LASER you deserve the point.

	dan snyder:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:39 GMT	0 points
	and i forgot the word the in opec

	fm_:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:40 GMT	5 points
	Even Wikipedia omits the word "the" in laser.

	Librería:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:41 GMT	1 point
	NASCAR is an acronym? Mind = blown

	yes:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:42 GMT	7 points
	So much to type. Even the answer for laser doesn't fit in the box! Fun quiz though.

	swellwrench:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:49 GMT	23 points
	"Tip" does NOT stand for "to insure promptness," or for anything else for that matter. See http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp

	mungar:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:51 GMT	8 points
	@fm: I could just go on Wikipedia and add the word "the". Wikipedia is not the end all, be all. Far from it.

	AtomicIce:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:53 GMT	2 points
	Two things: 1)never have heard the abbreviation OED (I have heard of what it stands for though) and 2)surprised HGH ranked as high as it did-- above NATO and ABS for example.

	Marcus:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:57 GMT	8 points
	Now that I see what you mean by TIP, I understand why this did not seem an acronym. It is not, and should be removed from the quiz.

	fm_:	May 7th, 2009 at 04:59 GMT	10 points
	Well, to be more specific, Wikipedia and its sources, including a scientific paper, as well as more than ten times as many internet results, omit the word "the." At the very least it's acceptable as an alternative.

	dsee:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:05 GMT	36 points
	I thought nascar stood for "non atheltic sport centered around rednecks" actually I'm one of them since I do watch nascar from time to time

	WindSword:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:06 GMT	9 points
	Dang it. I knew RSVP but couldn't spell it right. Man, French has way too many unnecessary letters.

	Abdullah:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:26 GMT	35 points
	These aren't all acronyms. Acronyms are abbreviations that can be pronounced like words. So while NATO, scuba, PIN, and OPEC are acronyms, HGH, NYSE, and RSVP are simply abbreviations.

	CANDM:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:28 GMT	7 points
	Not only is TIP disputable, but a context could have been provided. "Treatment Improvement Protocol" and "Ten Inch Playa" both work in their respective disciplines.

	thevictor390:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:29 GMT	21 points
	Man I could have sworn AIDS was "Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome." I must have respelled deficiency 10 different ways.

	Cards98:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:36 GMT	7 points
	Good quiz, just one question: shouldn't "amplitude modulation" also be acceptable for A.M.?

	SporcleAdmin:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:40 GMT	7 points
	A couple notes on this quiz. TIP was been removed, we could argue that common usage (even if incorrect) has made it an acronym, but why argue, we swapped it out for another answer. Also, we have relented and tried to make the quiz a tad more forgiving. Lastly, Sporcle uses the term acronym fairly loosely, many of these and others on the site could be referred to as initialisms, but given the widespread use of the term acronym and consistency on the site we went with what you see here.

	lznyc212:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:42 GMT	13 points
	Thank you "Family Ties"! One of the characters had to memorize the meaning of SCUBA in an episode and somehow it stuck with me all these years. Fun quiz, thanks!

	marpocky:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:45 GMT	13 points
	"Lastly, Sporcle uses the term acronym fairly loosely, many of these and others on the site could be referred to as initialisms, but given the widespread use of the term acronym and consistency on the site we went with what you see here." But there's nothing wrong with just calling them, say, abbreviations. It's correct, and nobody will be confused about what you mean. Hasn't Sporcle's mission always been to educate? Why reinforce this bad habit of misusing the word?

	Morbo:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:46 GMT	5 points
	@lznyc212: I was going to ask if anyone else got SCUBA because of that show. Weird how stuff sticks in your brain.

	demo0043:	May 7th, 2009 at 05:56 GMT	6 points
	When each letter stands for a word but you can't say it as a word, like NAACP, those are called alphabetisms. Things like scuba and laser are acronyms.

	demo0043:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:02 GMT	-4 points
	I can't believe that the accent marks are required for respondez sil vous plait. I don't have those on my computer! You should make it more forgiving.

	SomeSp0rcler:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:11 GMT	7 points
	Wow. I wasn't sure, but I had gotten every single letter correct on RSVP.... However, not knowing French, how could I know all that punctuation/accentuation?? I probably speak for quite a few of us when I say they should have given credit.

	SomeSp0rcler:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:15 GMT	11 points
	Oops, on second thought, there was 1 letter I got wrong: I put an S before P in "repondez". Apologies for jumping the gun a little with my previous comment.

	debbiedoesnothin:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:21 GMT	8 points
	I used to manage a book store and I couldn't remember what ISBN stands for. Grrr.

	Edge:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:27 GMT	22 points
	Good quiz. I entered "meridian" for AM and PM, never seen that one in print, just heard it spoken.

	milkmeister:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:28 GMT	8 points
	Why is everyone who mentions the FACT that these are not all acronyms but simply abbreviations above being marked down? An acronym is a specific subset of all abbreviations, namely that it is spoken like a word, e.g. SCUBA, NASDAQ. Unless everyone other than me is pronouncing ISBN as "IS-BUN" then that is not an acronym. QUiz itself is excellent though!

	y2jdilemma:	May 7th, 2009 at 06:42 GMT	7 points
	Count me in on the Family Ties-Scuba connection!

	Deepbite:	May 7th, 2009 at 07:24 GMT	1 point
	oh for the love of God, this petty debate over the definition of acronym reminds me of davidr and mine's debate over the definition of adjective in the most popular adjectives quiz. Yes I know I am probably using the apostrophe above incorrectly. Shoot me

	milkmeister:	May 7th, 2009 at 07:26 GMT	1 point
	@Deepbite. This is a quiz site after all, and by definition is about trivia, hence it's bound to be trivial! And your apostrophe use was perfect, so I'll hold the firing squad for you :-)

	LyonKing:	May 7th, 2009 at 07:35 GMT	29 points
	A bit harsh not to allow the UK spelling of organisation in the answer for NATO... Sporcle, what do you say?

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	sbarrett:	May 7th, 2009 at 08:06 GMT	4 points
	As somebody that doesn't find periods funny anymore, when I came across (Midol) as the clue I laughed uncontrollably. I guess I'll never grow up.