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Most industry sectors and organizations abound with acronyms (not necessarily three-letter ones). They are a useful and usually valid way of saving time when constantly referring to something that can be abbreviated. However, this can be very confusing to people who speak a different language, especially when an acronym gets further abbreviated; for instance, Bayerische Motoren Werke becomes BMW becomes ‘Beemer’.

Acronyms can create confusion in several ways:

▪ I heard the letters but wasn’t sure it was an acronym or a word I wasn’t aware of; did you say TLA or tee elay?

▪ I heard the letters and know it is an acronym but I don’t know what they stand for and I’m embarrassed to ask.

▪ In English the acronym for the defence alliance is NATO but in French it is OTAN.

▪ The acronym makes sense in your language but not in mine; for instance in English we talk about 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. These are acronyms from the Latin words ante meridian and post meridian. The Italians don’t use the Latin or the abbreviation but actually say (in Italian) 5 in the morning or 5 in the evening.

▪ An acronym can sound like a word with a different meaning; for instance, NASA the American Space Agency and Nasser the Arabic name, or SALT the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and salt the chemical or foodstuff.

▪ Any acronym can have numerous meanings even in the same language; the acronym SAS can mean a British military unit, a Scandinavian airline, an environmental charity for surfers or a software brand.

While the context can provide a clue as to which acronym you are using, avoiding the use of an acronym altogether simply makes it easier for the other party to understand the message … which is your aim after all.

Never use an acronym unless you KNOW (for sure) what it means.

Acronyms help people in-the-know to communicate faster. They hinder people not-in-the-know and make it slower.