Saturday 12 September 2009

Acronyms


Acronyms seem to be everywhere nowadays and it's easy to get lost amongst them if you are not careful. Do you know the meaning of NETTEL? I didn't know this acronym until this morning, when I read Valentina Dodge's very interesting comment in Lindsay Clandfield's "Six Ugly Words in English" blog post , where she refered to a new acronym called "NETTELS" which came via Schott's Vocab.

Some interesting acronyms:
  • WAG The English Blog has an excellent headline which mentions WAG
  • TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language
  • ASBO Anti-Social Behaviour Order Please refer here to the meaning
  • IPOD Insecure, Pressurised, Overdrawn and in Debt. Please click here for a previous post.
  • NYLON A regular commuter from New York to London
  • SKIER Spending Kids' Inheritance
  • NIMFY Not in My Front Yard!
  • BHAG Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal Please click here for an explanation
  • SPIN Small Plot INtensive Please click here for an explanation
  • KIPPERS Kids' in Parents' Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings Please click here for an explanation
Wordsearch Puzzle
I have created an Acronyms Puzzle using www.puzzlemaker.com. How quickly can you find the 11 acronyms inside the puzzle?

Click here for the pdf link.

An Acronym Story
Can you make out what this story is all about? I set myself a time limit of 5 minutes to write whatever came out of my mind and this is it- a bit of fun!

Victoria had been in the SPIN farming business for too long and she was fed up with being a SPINNER. So she had a BHAG! She decided she would like to become a WAG so she went to Boujie's night club in London and hey presto, she netted herself a very striking, handsome Premiership footballer called Joey Cascarino. He was a bit of a NIMFY at heart, so he wasn't happy with where he lived. He decided to move to New York but Victoria didn't want to leave England so they agreed to become NYLONS for a while. Unfortunately, this arrangement didn't work out and she became an IPOD. This led to her being given an ASBO for unruly behaviour. The relationship broke up and she went back to her parents to ask for help. Unfortuately, they were SKIERS, so they were out spending all their money while they were still able to do so. They told her she shouldn't be a KIPPER and told her to find a job. She saw an ad in the Guardian for a TEFL job in Civitaquana and went for it. She got it! She is now on top of the world. This story is purely fictional, if you were wondering!

KIPPER NYLON ASBO WAG

Which acronym is the "Odd Word Out?" Why?

Questions Questions Questions
  1. Do you think TEFL is an interesting profession?
  2. Has SPIN farming taken on in your neighbourhood?
  3. Have you ever had a BHAG? Did you achieve it?
  4. Would you become a NYLON for the love of your life?
  5. Do you think ASBOs are effective in curbing anti-socal behaviour?
Acronym Name Quiz
This is an Acronym quiz based on the letters of my name. Not sure if I agree on all of them! Which adjectives does your name generate?



It's funny how one simple acronym like "NETTEL" can inspire a blog post!

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