Abbrs.

A good number of us know or at least have heard of what some common abbreviations stand for.  Perhaps you know that a SCUBA is a 'self-contained underwater breathing apparatus,' that MSG is 'monosodium glutamate,' that AIDS is 'acquired immune deficiency syndrome,' or maybe even that a laser is nothing more than 'light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation.'

But some exhaustive searching through through the internet revealed some interesting abbreviations I either hadn't seen, hadn't ever taken the time to think about, or just thought were plain cool.  If you already know these... good for you!

• BMW = Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works)
• DSL = Digital Subscriber Line/Loop (not as exciting as I expected...)
• EPCOT = Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
  
• GOP = Grand Old Party
• IBM = International Business Machines
• JPEG = Joint Photographic Experts Group
  
• Konami = Kozuki, Nakama, Matsuda, & Ishihara (the company's founders)
• NASCAR = National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
• NASDAQ = National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
• PDA = Personal Digital Assistant (so that's what the A stands for!)
• RSS = Really Simple Syndication
• SWAT = Special Weapons And Tactics
• URL = Uniform Resource Locator
• USA PATRIOT Act = Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (wow...)

There must be some cool ones I'm missing...

And here's an odd tidbit... the longest abbreviation, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is Нииомтплабопармбетзелбетрабсбомонимонконотдтехстромонт.  The 54-letter Cyrillic abbreviation stands for "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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."