The word “acronym” is itself a good example of how casually we use language. Most of what we call acronyms online — LOL, ASAP, TL;DR, FOMO — are technically initialisations: each letter spoken separately, not forming a pronounceable word. A true acronym is spoken as a word: NASA, laser, scuba. The distinction has quietly collapsed, and almost nobody notices. Which is, in a way, the subject of this essay.

Abbreviations and language have always had a complicated relationship. Compression is not new — writers have abbreviated since there was writing, and professional shorthand has existed in medicine, law, and the military for as long as those fields have. The impulse to shorten is natural, even useful. Time is limited. Attention is limited. If a sequence of letters can carry the weight of a phrase, why carry the phrase?