TLA is not a TLA

I work in iT and must therefore suffer the slings and arrows of the continual use of Acronyms such as MCP, TCP, UDP etc etc…

However, a common mistake regarding use of such language is that the monicker applied to these annoying terms, “TLA” is in fact not an Acronym for “Three Letter Acronym”.

It is in fact an Initialism.

An Acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name and must be pronouncable as a word. An example of this would be FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) and another widely used in my line of work - PEBSAD (Problem Exists Between Seat And Desk).

Others like RTFM (Read The Fucking Manual) or STFO (Switch The Fucker Off) are correctly known as Initialisms, which are abbreivations consisting of the initials of a name or phrase.