A second helping of alphabet soup

In this week’s list of the world’s worst acronyms, I asked readers to send in nominations for the ones that bug them the most. We already have some great ones: Lindsay J. Gardner: MANPADS: man portable air defense system I should know I work on them daily and have to say the word MANPADS over ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

In this week's list of the world's worst acronyms, I asked readers to send in nominations for the ones that bug them the most. We already have some great ones:

In this week’s list of the world’s worst acronyms, I asked readers to send in nominations for the ones that bug them the most. We already have some great ones:

Lindsay J. Gardner:

MANPADS: man portable air defense system

I should know I work on them daily and have to say the word MANPADS over and over.  It’s border-line embarrassing.

Stephen E. Trimboli:

It’s a little dated, but remember the South West African People’s Organization – SWAPO! It always sounded to me like a State Lottery game, a boardwalk amusement, or a bad TV game show.

John Carrick:

CHOGM, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Sounds like a hapless hungry diplomat, dutifully attending yet another bleak reception, chomping on a tough, cold, dry chicken leg and inadvertently crunching the bone …

Kevin Miller:

SAP: the German software company that produces the WAY overpriced business solutions apps.  Are you a sap for buying it?  I say so.

Lauren Gelfand:

C’mon, what about the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front] in the Philippines?

Send your favorites to fpletters@foreignpolicy.com and I’ll keep posting the best ones here.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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