Acronym

===Contrived acronyms===
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Acronyms are sometimes [[wikt:contrive#Verb|contrived]], that is, deliberately designed to be especially apt for the thing being named (by having a dual meaning or by borrowing the positive connotations of an existing word). Some examples of contrived acronyms are ''[[USA PATRIOT Act|USA PATRIOT]]'', [[Can Spam Act|''CAN SPAM'']], ''[[CAPTCHA]]'' and ''[[AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power|ACT UP]]''.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}} The clothing company [[French Connection (clothing)|French Connection]] began referring to itself as ''fcuk'', standing for "French Connection United Kingdom". The company then created T-shirts and several advertising campaigns that exploit the acronym's similarity to the taboo word "[[fuck]]". Contrived acronyms find frequent use as names of [[list of fictional espionage organizations|fictional agencies]], with a famous example being frequent [[James Bond]] antagonist organization [[SPECTRE]] (SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).

The [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]]'s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ([[DARPA]]) is known for developing contrived acronyms to name projects, including ''RESURRECT'', ''NIRVANA'', and ''DUDE''. In July 2010, ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine reported that DARPA announced programs to "transform biology from a descriptive to a predictive field of science" named ''BATMAN'' and ''ROBIN'' for "Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature" and "Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks",<ref>{{cite magazine |url= https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/holy-acronym-darpa-batman-robin-to-master-biology-outdo-evolution/ |title=Holy Acronym, Darpa! 'Batman & Robin' to Master Biology, Outdo Evolution |first=Katie |last=Drummond |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=July 6, 2010 |access-date=March 5, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130702073147/http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/holy-acronym-darpa-batman-robin-to-master-biology-outdo-evolution/ |archive-date=July 2, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> a reference to the [[Batman]] and [[Robin (comics)|Robin]] comic-book superheroes.

The short-form [[Clinical trial naming conventions|names of clinical trials]] and other scientific studies constitute a large class of acronyms that includes many contrived examples, as well as many with a partial rather than complete correspondence of letters to expansion components. These trials tend to have full names that are accurately descriptive of what the trial is about but are thus also too long to serve practically as [[name]]s within the syntax of a sentence, so a short name is also developed, which can serve as a syntactically useful handle and also provide at least a degree of [[mnemonic]] reminder as to the full name. Examples widely known in [[medicine]] include the ALLHAT trial (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial) and the CHARM trial (Candesartan in Heart Failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity). The fact that [[RAS syndrome]] is often involved, as well as that the letters often do not entirely match, have sometimes been pointed out by annoyed researchers preoccupied by the idea that because the [[Archetype|archetypal]] form of acronyms originated with one-to-one letter matching, there must be some impropriety in their ever deviating from that form. However, the [[wikt:raison d'être|raison d'être]] of clinical trial acronyms, as with [[Gene nomenclature#Symbol and name|gene and protein symbols]], is simply to have a syntactically usable and easily [[Recall (memory)|recalled]] short name to complement the long name that is often syntactically unusable and not [[Memorization|memorized]]. It is useful for the short name to give a reminder of the long name, which supports the reasonable censure of "cutesy" examples that provide little to no hint of it. But beyond that reasonably close correspondence, the short name's chief utility is in functioning cognitively as a [[name]], rather than being a [[wikt:cryptic#Adjective|cryptic]] and forgettable string, albeit faithful to the matching of letters. However, other reasonable critiques have been (1) that it is irresponsible to mention trial acronyms without explaining them at least once by providing the long names somewhere in the document,<ref name="PMID-12767559">{{Citation |last=Cheng |first=Tsung O |year=2003 |title=No more unexplained trial acronyms please. Trial Acronyms: Better Obvious than Obscure (TABOO) |journal=Int J Cardiol |volume=89 |issue=2–3 |page=303 |pmid=12767559 |doi=10.1016/S0167-5273(02)00411-4}}</ref> and (2) that the proliferation of trial acronyms has resulted in ambiguity, such as three different trials all called ASPECT, which is another reason why failing to explain them somewhere in the document is irresponsible in scientific communication.<ref name="PMID-12767559" /> At least one study has evaluated the [[citation impact]] and other traits of acronym-named trials compared with others,<ref name="PMID-16823008">{{cite journal |last1=Stanbrook |first1=M. B. |last2=Austin |first2=P. C. |last3=Redelmeier |first3=D. A. |date=2006 |title=Acronym-named randomized trials in medicine—the ART in medicine study |journal=[[New England Journal of Medicine]] |volume=355 |issue=1 |pages=101–102 |pmid=16823008 |doi=10.1056/NEJMc053420}}</ref> finding both good aspects (mnemonic help, name recall) and potential flaws ([[Connotation|connotatively]] driven [[bias]]).<ref name="PMID-16823008" />

Some acronyms are chosen deliberately to avoid a name considered undesirable: For example, {{lang|de|[[Verliebt in Berlin]]}} (''ViB''), a German [[telenovela]], was first intended to be {{lang|de|Alles nur aus Liebe}} ('All for Love'), but was changed to avoid the resultant acronym ''[[Anus|ANAL]]''. Likewise, the Computer Literacy and Internet Technology qualification is known as ''CLaIT'',<ref name="CIE.org.uk_CLaIT">{{cite web |title=CLAiT–International |work=CIE.org |publisher=[[University of Cambridge]] |url= http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/vocational/clait/overview |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120114062047/http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/vocational/clait/overview |archive-date=January 14, 2012}}</ref> rather than ''[[Clitoris|CLIT]]''. In Canada, the [[Canadian Alliance|Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance (Party)]] was quickly renamed to the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance" when its opponents pointed out that its initials spelled CCRAP (pronounced "see [[Feces|crap]]"). Two Irish institutes of technology (Galway and Tralee) chose different acronyms from other institutes when they were upgraded from regional technical colleges. Tralee RTC became the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT), as opposed to Tralee Institute of Technology ([[Breast|TIT]]). Galway RTC became Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), as opposed to Galway Institute of Technology ([[wikt:git|GIT]]). The charity sports organization [[Leukemia & Lymphoma Society#Fundraising|Team in Training]] is known as "TNT" and not "TIT". [[Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences]], however, is still known as "TITS". [[George Mason University]] was planning to name their law school the "Antonin Scalia School of Law" ([[Asshole|ASSOL]]) in honor of the late [[Antonin Scalia]], only to change it to the "[[Antonin Scalia Law School]]" later.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.npr.org/2016/04/07/473339332/unfortunate-acronym-forces-law-school-name-change |title=Unfortunate Acronym Forces Law School Name Change |work=[[Morning Edition]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=April 7, 2016 |access-date=April 4, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181219044112/https://www.npr.org/2016/04/07/473339332/unfortunate-acronym-forces-law-school-name-change |archive-date=December 19, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>