MIA, for instance, is a military term that means someone is “missing in action,” while “ASAP” is used to indicate “as soon as possible.” In the modern age, computer and text acronyms have popped up everywhere too with phrases like IDK (“I don’t know”), ROFL (“rolling on the floor laughing”), and BFF (“best friends forever”). Similarly, M&M's stands for “Mars & Murrie's,” an ode to founder Forrest Mars and Hershey's Bruce Murrie.īeyond businesses and organizations, acronyms are sometimes used to describe basic actions or scenarios. IKEA, for example, is a shortening of “Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd,” the founder’s name and the farm he grew up on. When establishing new companies, business owners sometimes use acronyms to come up with a name. For example, places like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and National Rifle Association (NRA) are all more commonly known by their abbreviations. Government agencies often use them to make their names more easily recognizable, as do private organizations. Today, acronyms are used for a variety of purposes. The Roman Empire, for example, often referred to itself as SPQR (“Senatus Populusque Romanus”). The word, meaning “fish” in Greek, is often used today to describe the Jesus fish symbol.
One of the earliest examples can be seen in the Greek word “ichthys” which stands for “Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr” (or “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”). Humans have been using acronyms for centuries.
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