So I was in the forum when I came across the acronym POI. She said it meant person of interest. I had never heard that one. I thought it meant point of interest. With that in mind I went to an acronym dictionary to find evidence that she had just made up this acronym. Ah HA! I was right! POI stands for point of interest, but scrolling down the list of possible meanings I found out that she was right. It also means person of interest. That is a bit confusing, but brace yourself because the dictionary lists 29 other meanings for POI. Here are my favorites.
- Point(s) Of Interest
- Poor Obfuscation Implementation
- Penguin on Ice
- Proof of Identity
- Products Of Inertia
- Probability Of Intercept
- Position of Interest
- Polygons Of Interest
- Point of Impact
- period of interest
Acronyms are abused. They are the battered love child of millitary jargon and a society increasingly fascinated with technology. I think technology is the root of acronym abuse in our language, but it seems that the root of acronym abuse in technology goes back to the millitary. Most computer technology has its roots in millitary projects. The first programable computer was called ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). It was an army project. These are the guys who use acronyms like ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC (Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.) or NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT (The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite-monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR.), DUH!
So can we can blame the millitary for our society's addiction to acronyms? I don't know. Maybe I am wrong and the increasing use of acronyms is just a pragmatic way of dealing with the weird and wonderful stuff that scientists and engineers dream up, but back to the case at hand. Why in heaven's name do you need an abbreviation for Penguin on Ice? Wouldn't the word penguin be sufficient? Of course the penguin is on ice, penguins live on ice. Penguins are always on ice. Saying penguin on ice is like saying fish in water or tree frog on a tree. Are there acronmyms for those too? I'm too terrified to look.
But why fight it? I'm going to use them in a sentence.
I went to the public aquarium and saw a FIW. I wasn't surprised to see that the FIW was in water because I know the acronym FIW means fish in water. Oh the pain. I can't bring myself to use TFOAT in a sentence, wait I already have. AAIIIIEEEE! *blacks out*
Waking up in a pool of my own acronyms... FIW and TFOAT. They are so useful they will catch on in no time. Look for them to show up in an acronmyn dictionary near you. I could continue this discussion of the acronym POI, but I don't even have the energy. I'll just throw out the thought that POI as position of interest must be a domain specific term that scholars of the Kama Sutra throw around all the time. HA (Happy Acronyming).
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