You here it every five seconds. I never heard it before – where had it come from?

We knew that there were nuclear weapons and, since Hiroshima, we knew what they could do. But we never had a pet name for it. Now we do, like it was a favourite dog.

The concept of biological and chemical weapons isn't new either (poisoning the wells has been a favourite through history), only the scope got bigger over time.

The acronym was created for our benefit, of course, so we would become familiar with the concept. Acronyms do create this almost cozy feeling of intimacy.

I like acronyms so much that I created a few of my own. They are all in G.W. Bush’s arsenal. Here they are:

WMH - Weapons of Mass Hysteria
WPW - Weapons of Permanent War
WIA - Weapons of Idiotic Assumptions
WDC - Weapons of Divide and Conquer
WPF - Weapons of Paralyzing Fear
WJH - Weapons of Jealousy and Hate
WRF - Weapons of Religious Fundamentalism
WMM - Weapons of Malicious Misdirection
WMH - Weapons of Mind-numbing Hypocrisy
WJP - Weapons of Jingoistic Patriotism
WML - Weapons of Monstrous Lies
WBV - Weapons of Blaming the Victim

I am sure there are a lot more. Add your own.

[ 26 February 2003: Message edited by: Zatamon ]

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The CST organization was designed to augment local and regional terrorism response capabilities in events known or suspected to involve Weapons of Mass Destruction. WMD events are incidents involving hostile use of chemicals (such as nerve or blister agent), biological (for example, anthrax), or radiological agents.

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He was pretty much what you'd expect. Tough, button down military. (Though he lost the starch in his collar after a few of us Canadian boys took him out on the town with the Ottawa Fire Dept.)

The tone was pretty much what you'd expect: "War on Terror", "not safe on American soil anymore", world has changed", blah, blah blah. Their response equipment and training is phenomenal, and given that the NYPD and the Harbour Authority and the NY Fire Dept were all fighting over whose jurisdiction Ground Zero was, I guess they needed someone like "The Colonel" to come in and take charge...

Still, I was getting sick of the flag-waving until the next speaker came up to the podium.

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Frank Docimo whose fire department sent a pumper, personnel and equipment to NYC by 10 a.m. on that fatal morning. In his East Coast Italian demeanour Frank will also share some thoughts on "did we fail" in our preparations leading up to this tragic event.

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Frank was a breath of fresh air. Tough, funny (drank the Colonel under the table). Imagine Danny DeVito channeling Robin Williams.

Anyway, to get to the thread topic, he started his talk by writing on a blacboard in giant letters: "WMD".

"You know what that stands for?" "I do. I told them in Congress. Whores Making Dollars". And he went on to tell how everyboby was cashing in on 9/11 except the people who would actually have to respond in person to a major catastrophe. Every organization were trying to get a piece of the pie:
Federal Bureau of Incompetents (FBI)

Can't Identify Anyone (CIA)

Expert Paper-pushing Assholes (EPA)

Fucking Experts, My Ass FEMA

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DC: WEE! - weapons of extreme enthusiasm

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My favourite acronym: WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction).

You here it every five seconds. I never heard it before – where had it come from?

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The first time i ever heard this expression was in peace movement publications in the 1980s. The current arms control jargon (ABC for atomic biological and chemical) was throught to be too glib, and weapons of mass destruction was used by some to emphasize the dangers and horrors of chemical and biological weapons.

But everything gets reduced to Alice in Acronym Land, and now WMD is more glib still. What can you do, eh?

Not on weapons, but I nearly fell off my chair laughing when in my university honours seminar, a guy writing on organized crime groups like the Russian mafia and that Japanese gang thing that starts with a Y, started using referring to such groups operting outside North America as International Organized Crime (IOC), until it was pointed out that this was the generally accepted term for the International Olympic Committee. I was sad that someone had told him, because it was just so funny to hear him go on and on about the evils of the IOC and the corruption and havoc they wreaked, and be totally correct!

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People Eating Tasty Animals is in no way connected with, or endorsed by, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

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No shit!

[ 26 February 2003: Message edited by: Mr. Magoo ]

PANL - People Against Natural Light
PAUL - People Against Unatural Light
PAL - People Against Light
SPEED - Special People Eating Educated Deer

FBI = Federal Bureau of Intimidation
CIA= Crack Importers Association

In high school one year, there was a "Word of the Day" posted every day in the computer room, and people would write down what it was the acronym for (much like people are doing here), and the top three were recorded every day and bound at the end of the year for everyone who played.

It all started one day when the computer guy, Ed, wrote on the board "What the heck is a Bippy?" and several of the answers scrawled were acronyms.

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Does anyone know what a WMA is? I read it in a SAW (students against war...) newsletter.

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On the day you solo, you become, for the first time, the PIC, the Pilot In Command.