Funny | Random | Wordplay | Pet Peeves
Does It Annoy You When People Expand One of the Letters in an Acronym?
When I worked for an electronics company, it annoyed me when colleagues said things like ‘LCD display’ or ‘ISBN number’.
When expanded, all these terms repeat themselves:
- LCD display — Liquid Crystal Display display
- PCB board — Printed Circuit Board board
- ISBN number — International Standard Book Number number
- UPC code — Universal Product Code code
- USB bus — Universal Serial Bus bus
Someone came up with a name for this
- RAS syndrome — Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome
According to Wikipedia, the term RAS syndrome was coined in 2001 in a light-hearted column in New Scientist.
More examples
It’s surprisingly common! And in some cases (e.g. ETA), it’s not the last letter that gets repeated.
- ATM machine — Automated Teller Machine machine
- CMS system — Content Management System system