An article in the LA Times earlier this week, The Fine Art of Legislation Appellation, got me thinking about my days on the copy desk at FCW. The article spells out the process and thinking (marketing) behind the names of legislative proposals. A bill on energy markets is more memorable as the Electricity Needs Rules and Oversight Now (ENRON) Act, and the law regulating unwanted email goes by the catchy title of Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (or CAN-SPAM) Act. You have to admire the creativity, not to mention the guts, of the people who give such corny names to their legislation.
As you know, the acronym mecca can be found at the crossroads of government (especially the Defense Department) and technology. As a matter of style, FCW desk spells out most acronyms on first reference, so the copy desk sees and decodes more program acronyms than anyone else on staff. There were tricky ones like World-Wide Military Communications System (WWMCS) which was part of the WAM (WWMCS Automated Data Processing (ADP) Modernization program. But staff favorites were always those that formed a pronounceable word related to the meaning of the program – like LANTIRN for Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night or US-VISIT for U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology or the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). I’ve seen OATS (Organization Accounting and Training System), CORN (Computer Resources Nucleus) and PCHS (Procurement of Computer Hardware and Software). And I really think I remember a USDA program called EIEIO, but I can’t find any reference to it.
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