TLA
/T?L?A/, n.
[Three-Letter Acronym]
1. Self-describing abbreviation for a species with which computing
terminology is infested.
2. Any confusing acronym. Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, CPU, MMU, SCCS,
DMU, FPU, NNTP, TLA. People who like this looser usage argue that not all
TLAs have three letters, just as not all four-letter words have four
letters. One also hears of ?ETLA? (Extended Three-Letter Acronym,
pronounced /ee tee el ay/) being used to describe four-letter acronyms; the
terms ?SFLA? (Stupid Four-Letter Acronym), ?LFLA? (Longer Four Letter
Acronym), and VLFLA (Very Long Five Letter Acronym) have also been
reported. See also YABA.
The self-effacing phrase ?TDM TLA? (Too Damn Many...) is often used to
bemoan the plethora of TLAs in use. In 1989, a random of the journalistic
persuasion asked hacker Paul Boutin ?What do you think will be the biggest
problem in computing in the 90s?? Paul's straight-faced response: ?There
are only 17,000 three-letter acronyms.? (To be exact, there are 26^3 =
17,576.) There is probably some karmic justice in the fact that Paul Boutin
subsequently became a journalist.
|
three-letter acronym
TLA
(TLA) The canonical, self-describing acronym for the
name of a species with which computing terminology is infested.
Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, CPU, MMU, DMU, FPU,
TLA.
This dictionary contains many TLAs.
Sometimes used by extension for any confusing acronym. People
who like this looser usage argue that not all TLAs have three
letters, just as not all four-letter words have four letters.
One also hears of "ETLA" (Extended Three-Letter Acronym) being
used to describe four-letter acronyms. The term "SFLA"
(Stupid Four-Letter Acronym) has also been reported.
See also YABA.
The self-effacing phrase "TDM TLA" (Too Damn Many...) is used to
bemoan the plethora of TLAs in use. In 1989, a random of the
journalistic persuasion asked hacker Paul Boutin "What do you
think will be the biggest problem in computing in the 90s?"
Paul's straight-faced response: "There are only 17,000
three-letter acronyms." (To be exact, there are 26^3 = 17,576.)
(2014-08-14)
|