CREEP And Other Unfortunate Acronyms

Recently, I’ve been watching the new History channel documentary on Watergate. I vaguely remember watching the hearings on TV when I was a kid. I was around 14 and I think more interested in getting my homework done and spending time on my after school activities than watching Dean, Haldeman, Ehrlichman etc. testify.

The only two things that come to mind now are seeing Dean testify and hearing about the Committee For the Re-Election of the President aka CREEP. Even then I thought CREEP was a bad acronym. It made me think of the Watergate burglars creeping around. Or someone who was, well, a creep. I understand now that the official acronym was CRP, but I don’t remember ever seeing that mentioned anywhere. Still, I think whoever was responsible for naming that committee should have taken a look at the name and seen what some people might call it. Hindsight, I suppose.

That got me thinking about other unfortunate acronyms or abbreviations.

I live fairly close to Los Angeles International Airport, more commonly referred to as LAX. Every time I see it written out, I can’t help thinking that it’s a bad declaration for an airport. Is everyone there lax when it comes to their jobs? Security doesn’t seem to be lax there.

Then there are the companies or organizations that have acronyms that are now texting abbreviations that mean something entirely different. The Wisconsin Tourism Federation predates the current use of WTF so they can’t be blamed for the acronym. They did feel the need, though, to change their name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin.

Then there’s the Department of Elder Affairs in Iowa that changed its name to the Department of Aging in 2009. Yep, DOA. It’s now the Iowa Department on Aging and they use IDA.

That’s my musing for this week. Anyone know of any other unfortunate acronyms?

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In other news, it was my pleasure last week to present a $1000 check from Sisters in Crime to the Yorba Linda Public Library in Yorba Linda, California. Every month SinC awards $1000 to a library in the United States for buying books and audio books to add to their collections. It’s all part of the We Love Libraries program. I’m currently serving as the WLL coordinator so I get to notify the winners, but I rarely get to attend or participate in any of the presentation ceremonies. The check was presented at a panel at the library featuring Orange County chapter members Jeri Westerson, Greta Boris and Jill Amadio.

Please encourage your local U.S. library to enter for a chance to win a grant. See www.sistersincrime.org/WeLoveLibraries for the details.