Bit of initial upset.

IT MAY be something that bothers only me, but I do wish organisations would stop assuming the whole world knows what their initials stand for.

Your average man and woman in the street probably knows who the RSPCA, RNLI, BNP, NSPCC and NATO are and what they do.

But could you say for certain what all those initials stand for? Journalists will try to do you a favour and spell it out - but even we have difficulties sometimes in interpreting what NATSOPA, NAAFI, UNESCO and WYSIWYG stand for.

I think organisations have a duty to spell out exactly what the initials of their name represent.

But on nine websites out of ten, it just doesn't happen.

If you're writing an article, it simply won't do to put PHAB, for instance.

I found these initials in a story by a colleague and although I knew that it was an organisation to help disabled people by bringing them together for all sorts of activities with able-bodied people, I wasn't sure what the initials stood for.

PHAB's website doesn't enlighten.

I finally worked out that it's PHysically disabled and Able-Bodied.

In casting a few sets of initials into the pot, I have, incidentally, laid a trap.

WYSIWYG is not the acronym of an organisation.

It stands for What You See Is What You Get.

Here's another tricksy set of initials: IITYWIIWYBMAP.

If I tell you what it is, will you buy me a pint?

CAPTION(S):

SIGNS: The PHAB logo