Andremember, kids,anacronymhas tospell out a word...Top
5
Computing
Acronyms
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GNU
Let’s get thingsstartedwithoneof our veryfavourite
acronyms,andonewhichcomeswiththe addedbonus
of beingrecursive.As wellas beingthe nameof a
genusof antelopes,GNUis, of course,a Unix-likesoftware
systemdevelopedby the Free Software Foundation.But while
it mightbelikeUnix,it’snotUnix.Yes, GNU’s NotUnix–
GNU.There are loadsmore recursiveacronymsin computing,
includingAce(AceCodeEditor)andPIP (PIPInstalls
Packages),but noneof themled to the slightlyrudenamefor
an imageeditorGIMP(GNUImageManipulationProgram),so
GNUwinsfor us.22
WINE
WINEuse to be a WINdowsEmulator, but thesedays,
WINEIs Not an Emulator. Whateverit is, it’s ableto do
somethingthat’s somewhatakinto magic,by making
Windowsprogramsworkin Linux.Oddlyenough,its namesake,
wine,is alsoableto performa kindof magic,makingeverything
we say soundcharmingand wittyto us, whileeveryoneelse
findsit weird or slightlyoffensive.33
CAD
Computer-aideddesignallowsus to makeall kinds
of amazingthingswithrelativeease,andit’s been
withus sincethe 1970s.That’s a prettylongtime,
but what’s beenaroundevenlongerare menwhobehave
dishonourably, especiallytowards women.We put thesekind
of cadsrightdownthere withbounders,andwe generally
disapprove of them– unlesstheyhappento be Terry Thomas,
in whichcasethat’s okay.44
GNOME
Likethe GIMP, GNOME is born from the GNU
acryonym, andit’s short for GNUNetwork Object
Model Environment– so youcanunderstandwhy
peoplecall it GNOMEinstead.Thereasonwe like this
abbreviationis obvious:it makesus thinkof gardengnomes,
withtheircheerylittlefacesandpointyhats,sittingon
toadstoolsandfishingin gardenponds.Andwhenyou’re
dealingwithsomethingas dry as GNOME,havinga happy,
smilinggnomein yourheadcanonlybe a goodthing.55
GUI
Controversially, thisonemightnot really be an
acronym.Seeingas it’s onlythree letters,youcould
justas easilypronounceit as an initialism(so G-U-
I), but accordingto fontof all user-editedknowledge,
Wikipedia,it’s actuallypronounced‘gooey’.Thisis still
currentlybeingdebatedin the Micro MartShed,but
let’s justassumeit is gooeyfor nowandsaluteit for the
iA GNOME,sittingona GNU,drinkingsomeWINE... ridiculous-soundingacronymthatit (apparently)is.