NASA vs AFRL

This isn't about the two agencies fighting each other but about acronyms and initialisms. An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word, while an initialism is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters where they are pronounced separately. These can be demonstrated by the agencies in the title. NASA has always been pronounced as a word and AFRL is referred to as A-F-R-L.

I started my military career in the propulsion directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory. My next job was in the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC - people love three letter abbreviations, so the S from Systems disappears). We worked with the space vehicles directorate of AFRL. After a year there, we got a new boss. One day in a meeting, he talked about the great work we do with afrill. Someone asked him who afrill was. "The Lab.", he replied. For some reason, it was an acronym to him, but that's the only time I've heard it referred in that manner.

Now I'm back at AFRL in the directed energy directorate as a civilian. One of our facilities in the Starfire Optical Range. It is pronounced as an initialism. Why that is? I don't know. One time someone in the office was out there for a meeting and said something about soar/sore. Similarly to my old boss, he was given an odd look and corrected that it was S-O-R. Why isn't it an acronym? How is it determined?

The largest Lutheran denomination in America is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). I pronounce it as an acronym. When it comes up in debates in my denomination about how they bring shame to Lutheranism and we have to explain that we aren't that type of Lutheran, it's about 50/50 between being an acronym and an initialism. Again, why? I don't know how this get decided. Probably some sort of popular inertia.

Then there are acronyms that over time lose their acronym status and enter the lexicon as common nouns. We have RAdio Detection And Ranging (RADAR), it's cousin SOund Navigation And Ranging (SONAR), and Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) to name just a few. After time, companies will change too. Whether or not it was to hide the word fried, Kentucky Fried Chicken changed to KFC. Federal Express gave in to common usage and became FedEx.

Finally, I have to give some love to a subset of acronyms, the backronyms. These are a favorite of Congresscritters, as well as others. A backronym is where an end word is thought of first and the acronym is backed into or more often shoehorned in. A well known example is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act.

I find language fascinating and I've recently been thinking about places at work. The military is full of acronyms and initialisms. Years ago I heard an interview with Heather Wilson, who was the Secretary of the Air Force at the time. She strongly disliked all the shortcuts, especially because different units would have the same abbreviation for different meanings. During briefs she'd ask what the acronym meant and a lot of times the person didn't know. Therefore, she started an acronym jar on her desk and charged people for each one used in a meeting with her. She said that she was able to throw a great Christmas party at the end of the year.