ACRONYMS BEWILDER UK EXECUTIVES

The overwhelming majority of UK executives are confused by the number of acronyms banded about in the office…and perhaps it’s just as well!

CWB (Corporate W**** B*******), ABM (Another Bloody Meeting),AZB (Assume Zero Budget), CLM (Career Limiting Move)  and DREAM (Don’t Really Expect Any Money)are a handful of current examples of acronyms and initialisms doing the rounds, according to a survey by the spoken communications consultancy, The Aziz Corporation.

An acronym, which is formed from the Greek words for “tip” and “name”, means words formed from the initial letters of other words.  Also common in today’s offices are initialisms, abbreviations consisting of initial letters pronounced separately. 

The survey completed by more than 230 company directors shows that more than 96% have been confused by these kinds of abbreviations while three-quarters of respondents believe there are too many of these in the workplace.  

One company director says that in his office “we no longer speak English but an acronym dialect”.  Another describes these as “a cancer” in their business. Several have stated that their companies have attempted to ban all acronyms.

Special dictionaries now exist to decipher acronyms from databases with more than half a million of acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms in circulation.

The Aziz Corporation Chairman Khalid Aziz, “Acronyms are a scourge on the modern language and the result of lazy, thoughtless communication.