20 Acronyms my sons asked me

Have you encountered an acronym that made you ask yourself “What does it stand for?” It becomes frustrating when my sons asked me the meanings of the acronyms and I just cannot remember! Therefore, I surfed the internet just to satisfy their curiosity and to maintain my peace of mind.  Here are my 20 answers to their most pressing questions in no particular order.

Wifi – Turn on the wifi, please!

Meaning: Wireless Fidelity in the 1990s but officially it has no meaning at present. However, the meaning wireless fidelity is still being widely used.

USB – “Mum, have you seen my USB?”  It is an acronym that made me say          “Where did you last put it?” lots of times in the past.

Meaning: Universal Serial Bus

QANTAS – When I was young, my father told me the meaning of QANTAS twice because he loves to read his encyclopedia. I tried to recall what my father said but I forgot when my sons inquired about it. It never occurred in my wildest dreams that one day my family and I will book this airline and live in Australia. Mindblown!

Meaning: Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited

TNT – Have you watched the funny cartoons featuring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote? Wile E. Coyote often used TNT to catch Road Runner.

Meaning: Trinitrotoluene

NASA – Every time we watch a science-fiction movie, the boys always make me say the meaning of this acronym. I already know it by heart for a long time.

Meaning: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

am / pm – What is the time? 6 am or 6 pm? I surfed the internet just to make sure the spelling is right.

Meaning:  am  ante meridiem  (before noon)

pm  post meridiem   (after noon)

idk – I giggled after I discovered the meaning of this.

Meaning: I don’t know.

RSVP – Most people know the meaning of this in English but how about the spelling in French?

Meaning: répondez s’il vous plaît  ( Please respond.)

TBA – I often encounter this in rosters and meetings.

Meaning: To be announced

P. S. – I seldom use this but when I wrote a note for my son, he asked me what it was. Youngsters nowadays seldom post letters by snail mail for this acronym to be utilized. I belong to the generation who wrote letters with lots of P.S. in it.

Meaning: Postscript

Kmart photo
To shop or not to shop

K-Mart – My sons and I often visit this store but what does the K mean?

Meaning: Kresge

Big W sign
shopping and window shopping

Big W – After the K we need to look for the W. It is another store we love to shop and window shop.

Meaning: Woolworths

SPAM canned goods
It is time for hoarding.=)

SPAM – I immediately buy Spam when it is half price.

Meaning: Spiced Ham or Shoulder of Pork and Ham

M & Ms – When I was young, it was definitely a treat to eat one of these.

Meaning: Mars and Murrie

M & M's bars
To buy or not to buy

EFTPOS – We saw the sign EFTPOS not available which made us say “ What’s that acronym?”

Meaning: electronic funds transfer point of sale

CVV – This is the three or four digit number depending upon the credit or debit card you have.

Meaning: Card Verification Value

AMF – Every time we pass this place we go bowling to, my boys always nag me what does AMF stand for? After around 5 times of inquiring, I finally searched the meaning of it.

Meaning: American Machine and Foundry

party giveaways from AMF bowling
party giveaways from AMF bowling

SIRI– Hey, Siri!

Meaning: Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface

XXXX – We watched the third game of State of Origin and my second son inquired about it.

Meaning: You read it as Four X. There is no meaning to it. It is a brand of Australian beer.

GIF – Some gifs are really funny.

Meaning: Graphic Interchange Format

There will be new acronyms in the future that my boys will want to know but that will be written in another blog.

 

What acronyms made you ask yourself ” What does that stand for?”  Please leave a comment so I could learn from my readers.

Share this if it made you think ” So that’s what it means!”

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “20 Acronyms my sons asked me”

Comments are closed.