|
Tla - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
|
Tla : Three Letter Acronym (slang)
Based on Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [Acronyms_Dictionary]:
|
|
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.
Based on Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [Acronyms_Dictionary]:
|
|
|
|
|
