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Three little letters
Dave Jakeman last week turned out not to be the only person confused by what many three-letter abbreviations (TLAs) stand for.
As Steven Perrott points out, ICT is both Information and Communications Technology and Interactive Computer Technology. CBT is Computer Based Training, Compulsory Basic Training for motorcyclists and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Though if you turned up for your Microsoft Office 7 training session in a crash helmet, it would perhaps show that you had not read the memo closely enough.
Have any of you genuinely mistaken one of these terms? We should perhaps hand this over to some kind of naming authority under the control of the United Nations, which could give each a number (CBT1, CBT2).
Or we could upgrade TLAs so that they have four letters? A few suggestions to get the ball rolling, please.
The BBC got their TLAs in a twist a couple of days ago. On their news website a story about recalled food had a link purporting to be to the Food Standards Agency. Unfortunately it went to the Financial Services Agency instead.
Posted by :Peter Toye | December 17, 2006 10:20 AM