Thursday 16 April 2009

PIN number? LAN network? - Two years on, but still just as pedantic ...

Yes, sorry bout that ... fell out of the loop there ... anyway ... All hail The Redundant Acronym Phrases project:

Nanday.com is the official home of the Redundant Acronym Phrase (RAP) project.

A RAP is a phrase containing an acronym plus a word or phrase such that, when the acronym is expanded, the phrase would contain a redundancy. This is best illustrated by an example: ATM machine. ATM is an acronym for automated teller machine. Thus, ATM machine really means automated teller machine machine.

To qualify for inclusion in the RAP project, a phrase should be one which is (or was at one time) actually in common use. Phrases artificially constructed, just to fit the category, are not acceptable. For example, CD disk (compact disk disk) is a phrase which is never actually used, so it does not qualify. There is only one exception to this rule. Even though the term RAP phrase is not yet commonly used, by its special nature, it deserves an exception to the rule, and qualifies as a RAP.