History Main / AcronymConfusion

** Cut to Ashkenazi Jews roaming the wartorn streets of San Marcos collecting donations from soldiers.

* A RunningGag in the early seasons of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' involves our heroes getting confused with [[Series/{{CSI}} another acronym-based]] CopShow.

* The Chicago based ''Windy City Wrestling'' changed its name in 1997 to ''Windy City ''Pro'' Wrestling'' as ''Wrestling/WorldChampionshipWrestling'' had really [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder taken off]] the previous year and [[Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} continued to.]]
** Also related: ''Wrestling/DefiantWrestling'' was previously named ''[[WebVideo/WhatCultureWrestling WhatCulture Pro Wrestling]]'', with the WCPW initials.

* One that used to cause a lot of headaches among Creator/BlizzardEntertainment fans - [=HotS=]: ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' or ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Heart of the Swarm]]''?
** Acknowledged in one of Blizzard's April Fools Day jokes where, due to the popularity of that particular acronym, ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'' would be changed to "Hearth of the Stone".

* NASA: The [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] is not ambiguous; but the agency has ''produced'' a large number of ambiguous acronyms, due to a tendency to come up with contrived acronyms for everything. Examples include "CM", which could be the Command Module of the Apollo spacecraft or something's center-of-mass, and "FM", which could be a Failure Mode of the space shuttle or the more usual Frequency Modulation.
** On request; NASA provides dictionaries of its acronyms. They are several hundred pages long, with individual acronyms having up to half a dozen different meanings.

* SS: ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'', ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]'', or ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]''? Or [[VideoGame/SonicCD Stardust Speedway]]? [[Franchise/MyLittlePony So Soft]]? A prefix used to refer to boats? A category of Chevrolet cars which stands for "Super Sport"? Or [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany something to do with Nazis]]? It could also stand for stainless steel.

** They can't just call themselves UCL, because that's University College London.

* HP -- ''Literature/HarryPotter'', House of Parlaiment, or Creator/HPLovecraft? Or could it be Hewlett-Packard or healt points?

* '''SD''' is an initialism that may need a bit of context in a conversation about anime and manga -- are we talking about ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays''? ''Anime/StarDriver''? ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain''? Or perhaps the "SuperDeformed" character art style (or any number of titles based on it, like ''Anime/SDGundamForce'' or ''Series/KamenRiderSD'')? It can also stand for ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' or, on this website, SelfDemonstrating. Not to mention that it's the US postal code for UsefulNotes/SouthDakota. And, in the technology world, the ubiquitous SD memory card originally stood for Secure Digital.

* In America, AAA means American Automobile Association--or Anti-Aircraft Artillery, or the Archives of American Art. It can also mean a triple-A battery or, on ''Website/{{Neopets}}'', Aristotle A. Avinroo or Almost Abandoned Attic.

* AL: American League or Alabama? Or aluminium?

* HP -- ''Literature/HarryPotter'', House of Parlaiment, or Creator/HPLovecraft?

* Also in the Philippines, we have the '''M'''oro '''I'''slamic '''L'''iberation '''F'''ront, which, when referred to solely by its acronym in the international media, can lead to some UnfortunateImplications [[StacysMom due to MILF more commonly meaning]] "'''M'''other '''I''''d '''L'''ike to '''F'''uck". Then, there's the meme which jokes it stands for '''M'''an, '''I L'''ove '''F'''rogs.

* There are currently three TV networks called ABC: the commercial Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany, the [[UsefulNotes/StateBroadcaster government-funded]] Creator/AustralianBroadcastingCorporation, and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, which serves in the Kansai region of Japan. There's also the former Creator/{{ITV}} station Associated British Corporation.

* BC usually stands for "Before Christ", and also often stands for British Columbia, but on ''Website/{{Neopets}}'', it means "beauty contest". Then there was the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Ugh", which joked that it stood for "Before Comedy".

* If someone has more than one child of the same gender, they will often refer to them as "DS" or "DD" (meaning "dear son" or "dear daughter") followed by a number indicating their birth order (for example, to [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer and Marge Simpson]], Lisa and Maggie would be referred to as DD1 and DD2). However, if somebody has nine or more sons, they might get confused with [[Franchise/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]], and if they have nine or more daughters, they might get confused with ''Fanfic/DeepDishNine'', a fanfic of the aforementioned series.

* Also in the Philippines, we have the '''M'''oro '''I'''slamic '''L'''iberation '''F'''ront, which, when referred to solely by its acronym in the international media, can lead to some UnfortunateImplications [[StacysMom due to MILF more commonly meaning]] "'''M'''other '''I''''d '''L'''ike to '''F'''uck".

* MP: When referring to games, this could be ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' or ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Metroid Prime]]''. It could also just refer to a game being multiplayer. If you're talking role-playing games, it could refer to magic points or something similar. In political terms, it can either stand for "member of Parliament" or "military police", among others.

* NB: Nota bene, non-binary, or the chemical symbol for nobellium?

* NSFS is another variation on NSFW, for things that may or may not be work-safe, but are complete {{Mind Screw}}s. However, this could mean either Not Safe for the Soul, or Not Safe for Sanity.

* There are currently three TV networks called ABC: the commercial Creator/American Broadcasting Company, the [[UsefulNotes/StateBroadcaster government-funded]] Creator/AustralianBroadcastingCorporation, and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, which serves in the Kansai region of Japan. There's also the former Creator/{{ITV}} station Associated British Corporation.

* There are currently three TV networks called ABC: the commercial [[Creator/{{ABC}} American Broadcasting Company]], the [[UsefulNotes/StateBroadcaster government-funded]] [[Creator/TheABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, which serves in the Kansai region of Japan. There's also the former Creator/{{ITV}} station Associated British Corporation.

* "GM" within the context of tabletop [=RPGs=] and [=MMOs=] means "game master"; for the former, it refers to the one in charge of the game, and in the latter, they perform administrative and moderative tasks such as dealing with problematic players. Amongst ''Tetris TGM'' players, it refers to "Grand Master", the highest possible rank in every arcade ''TGM'' game. It also stands for the American automobile company General Motors, and for Genetically Modified. Also can refer to [[UsefulNotes/GameEngine GameMaker Studio]]. In sports, GM stands for General Manager, who is the person in charge of player personnel decisions including drafting, trading, and free agency contracts.

* ''Film/CubeZero''. The inmates see the words C,I,A and naturally think the UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} built the Cube, but it's just a labelling system for the rooms (hence the commas). Later someone sees the label S,O,S and can only comment, "No kidding!"

* Hey, you wanna play some RO? Yeah, I love that game! ''*later*'' [[http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/574 Wait, did you mean Red Orchestra or Ragnarok Online?]]

* In the US, the early ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games were called Dragon Warrior, leading to the DW# abbreviation. Around the time the switch back to Dragon Quest was made the ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld'' series was also starting up with the DW abbreviation. Fans of both instead insisted Digimon World was DMW, in order to avoid confusion. Additionally, neither should be confused with WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'s little sister. Not even the acronym for the newer Dragon Quest games (DQ) is safe, as it's also the acronym used by ice cream restaurant Dairy Queen.

* "GM" within the context of tabletop [=RPGs=] and [=MMOs=] means "game master"; for the former, it refers to the one in charge of the game, and in the latter, they perform administrative and moderative tasks such as dealing with problematic players. Amongst ''Tetris TGM'' players, it refers to "Grand Master", the highest possible rank in every arcade ''TGM'' game. It also stands for the American automobile company General Motors, and for Genetically Modified. Also can refer to [[Platform/GameEngine GameMaker Studio]]. In sports, GM stands for General Manager, who is the person in charge of player personnel decisions including drafting, trading, and free agency contracts.

* Amongst ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' fans, "[=HoD=]" can cause a bit of confusion as it can stand for both ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance Harmony of Dissonance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair Harmony of Despair]]''. Fans usually use "HD" for the latter to get around this, which doubles as a reference to ''Despair'' being [[Platform/PlayStationNetwork available on]] [[UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade HD consoles]], while ''Dissonance'' originally [[Platform/GameBoyAdvance wasn't]] (and then later it got ported to 8th- and 9th-generation HD consoles as part of a CompilationReRelease).

* An internal example for ''Videogame/Left4Dead2'': Campaign names are often initialized when referred to, but there are two pairs with the same letters: Dead Center and Dark Carnival, and The Parish and The Passing.

* MD can refer to the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Mega Drive]], ''VideoGame/MuseDash'', or ''VideoGame/MusicDiver'' (the arcade game by Creator/{{Taito}}). The latter two can be a sore point for RhythmGame players, as those two games are rhythm games. It also commonly stands for "medical doctor", and on ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' it sometimes means "Meridell", which is a place on the site.

* In Portugal, PSP can stand for two things: UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable or Public Safety Police (Polícia de Segurança Pública). Considering the police meaning of PSP has been around since the 1800s, whenever you mention PSP you usually mean the police. Additionally, PSP can also be the art program Paint Shop Pro, which in turn saves pictures as .psp by default.

See also FunWithAcronyms, ShoehornedAcronym, and AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload.

* "GM" within the context of tabletop [=RPGs=] and [=MMOs=] means "game master"; for the former, it refers to the one in charge of the game, and in the latter, they perform administrative and moderative tasks such as dealing with problematic players. Amongst ''Tetris TGM'' players, it refers to "Grand Master", the highest possible rank in every arcade ''TGM'' game. It also stands for the American automobile company General Motors, and for Genetically Modified. Also can refer to [[UsefulNotes/GameEngine GameMaker Studio]]. In sports, GM stands for General Manager, who is the person in charge of player personnel decisions including drafting, trading, and free agency contracts.
* GOW? ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' or ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''? Only the two series being Xbox and UsefulNotes/PlayStation first-party exclusives respectively stops this from being extremely confusing. However, the two fandoms are actually [[FriendlyFandoms friendly with each other]] about this and aside from the occasional lighthearted jest, refer to either games by the first word of the title (i.e. ''God'' or ''Gears'') instead. The former series relented and has its more recent games by the end of TheNewTens called just "''Gears''" (i.e. ''Gears 5'', ''VideoGame/GearsTactics'').

* Amongst ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' fans, "[=HoD=]" can cause a bit of confusion as it can stand for both ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance Harmony of Dissonance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair Harmony of Despair]]''. Fans usually use "HD" for the latter to get around this, which doubles as a reference to ''Despair'' being [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork available on]] [[UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade HD consoles]], while ''Dissonance'' originally [[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance wasn't]] (and then later it got ported to 8th- and 9th-generation HD consoles as part of a CompilationReRelease).

* NSW can refer to the Australian state of New South Wales or the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* Back before it was shut down, Website/{{Miiverse}} would ban anyone who said "PM" for discussing "criminal activity", seemingly in reference to the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' mod ''VideoGame/ProjectM''. This could kick in even if you were discussing the long-running ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series - which had its fourth and fifth games, ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash Color Splash]]'', respectively released on UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and UsefulNotes/WiiU, the consoles that supported Miiverse - or even just referring to post meridiem, the span of time that begins at noon and goes until midnight.

* "CP" is commonly used on the internet to refer to child pornography, which [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/6kmp7i/i_miss_club_penguin_so_much/djn75xv/ this poor Redditor]] found out the hard way when they used it to refer to ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin''. This also caused problems for people who made Website/YouTube videos about ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'', as CP stands for "Combat Power" in that game, which [[https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/18/18229640/pokemon-go-youtube-channels-banned-trainer-tips-mystic7-cp confused the website's algorithms into thinking some Pokémon videos were inappropriate]].

* SNK can stand for video game company Creator/{{SNK}}, or the Japanese title of the anime ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin''). Some fans of the anime refer to the series by its English name to avoid confusion, or use a lowercase 'n' (thus, "[=SnK=]") since "no" is a Japanese particle meaning "of"[[note]]though the subject taking ownership is to the left of "o", as opposed to English "of" putting the owning subject of the right. Thus, "X no Y" = "Y of X"[[/note]] and thus is usually left uncapitalized when writing out romanized Japanese titles in English.

* SNK can stand for video game company Creator/{{SNK}}, or the Japanese title of the anime ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin''). Some fans of the anime refer to the series by its English name to avoid confusion, or use a lowercase 'n' (thus, "[=SnK=]") since "no" is a Japanese particle meaning "of"[[note]]though the subject taking ownership is to the left of ''no'', as opposed to English "of" putting the owning subject of the right. Thus, "X no Y" = "Y of X"[[/note]] and thus is usually left uncapitalized when writing out romanized Japanese titles in English.

* SNK can stand for video game company Creator/{{SNK}}, or the Japanese title of the anime ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin''). Some fans of the anime refer to the series by its English name to avoid confusion, or use a lowercase 'n' (thus, "[=SnK=]") since "no" is a Japanese particle and thus is usually left uncapitalized when writing out romanized Japanese titles in English.

* SNK can stand for video game company Creator/{{SNK}}, or the Japanese title of the anime ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin''). Some fans of the anime refer to the series by its English name to avoid confusion.

* In the medical field, DNR stands for "Do Not Resuscitate", meaning that for one reason or another, medical staff are ordered not to try to revive a patient if their heart stops beating. People in this field thus get very confused when hotel workers talk about putting a particularly problematic guest on DNR, which in hospitality-speak means [[PersonaNonGrata "Do Not Rent"]].[[note]]"Sorry paramedics, [[DisproportionateRetribution we can't let you revive this guest, they are on DNR for assaulting one of our housekeepers]]."[[/note]] And God forbid you have to put someone on either DNR status in Ukraine or Russia, where "DNR" stands for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People%27s_Republic Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika]] (Donetsk People's Republic). It can also stand for Digital Noise Reduction, a form of digital processing that is often used to make films look more modern, [[DigitalDestruction often to awful results]]. Alternatively, it may stand for Department of Natural Resources.

* In the medical field, DNR stands for "Do Not Resuscitate", meaning that for one reason or another, medical staff are ordered not to try to revive a patient if their heart stops beating. People in this field thus get very confused when hotel workers talk about putting a particularly problematic guest on DNR, which in hospitality-speak means [[PersonaNonGrata "Do Not Rent"]].[[note]]"Sorry paramdeics, [[DisproportionateRetribution we can't let you revive this guest, they are on DNR for assaulting a housekeeper]]."[[/note]] And God forbid you have to put someone on either DNR status in Ukraine or Russia, where "DNR" stands for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People%27s_Republic Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika]] (Donetsk People's Republic). It can also stand for Digital Noise Reduction, a form of digital processing that is often used to make films look more modern, [[DigitalDestruction often to awful results]]. Alternatively, it may stand for Department of Natural Resources.

* In the medical field, DNR stands for "Do Not Resuscitate", meaning that for one reason or another, medical staff are ordered not to try to revive a patient if their heart stops beating. People in this field thus get very confused when hotel workers talk about putting a particularly problematic guest on DNR, which in hospitality-speak means [[PersonaNonGrata "Do Not Rent"]]. And God forbid you have to put someone on either DNR status in Ukraine or Russia, where "DNR" stands for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People%27s_Republic Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika]] (Donetsk People's Republic). It can also stand for Digital Noise Reduction, a form of digital processing that is often used to make films look more modern, [[DigitalDestruction often to awful results]]. Alternatively, it may stand for Department of Natural Resources.

* CDC: Centre for Disease Control, Child Development Centre, Change Data Capture, or Community Development Corporation? Then, there was the Creator/PaulJennings story in which it was implied to stand for "[[RoadApples Cow Dung Custard]]"...

* In the medical field, DNR stands for "Do Not Resuscitate", meaning that for one reason or another, medical staff are ordered not to try to revive a patient if their heart stops beating. People in this field thus get very confused when hotel workers talk about putting a particularly problematic guest on DNR, which in hospitality-speak means [[PersonaNonGrata "Do Not Rent"]]. And gods forbid you have to put someone on either DNR status in Ukraine or Russia, where "DNR" stands for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People%27s_Republic Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika]] (Donetsk People's Republic). It can also stand for Digital Noise Reduction, a form of digital processing that is often used to make films look more modern, [[DigitalDestruction often to awful results]]. Alternatively, it may stand for Department of Natural Resources.

* In the [[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaUSA US state of Georgia]], "GSU" can refer to two public universities, both members of the [[UsefulNotes/{{NCAA}} NCAA Division I]] [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences Sun Belt Conference]]—Georgia Southern University and Georgia State University. The two schools constantly argue over which is "the real GSU" (although Southern consistently uses just "GS" in its athletic branding), and have a rather spicy rivalry known as "Modern-Day Hate" (a nod to the much older rivalry between the state's two most prominent public schools, Georgia and Georgia Tech, known as "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate").

* American universities tend to get this in spades (with the "GSU" entry above as an extreme example). The University of Southern California is rarely referred to by anything ''other'' than "USC", but alumni of the University of South Carolina always insist that they're "the real USC". Likewise, Oregon State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State all use the "OSU" initialism, "UNH" is both the University of New Hampshire and the University of New Haven (Connecticut), and "MSU", um...yeah. That could be Michigan State[[note]]the most common meaning outside of relatively local regions around the others, and msu.edu belongs to them[[/note]] or Mississippi State... or Montana State, Morehead State, Morgan State, Missouri State[[note]]formerly SMS (Southwest Missouri State)[[/note]], Murray State, or [=McNeese=] State[[note]]its athletic program uses only "[=McNeese=]"[[/note]]... or Minnesota State, Mountain State (now defunct), Montclair State, Metropolitan State (completely separate schools in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} and [[UsefulNotes/TwinCities St. Paul]]), or Minot State. And that's just in the United States; there's also the Russian universities Maritime State and Moscow State, as well as the Indian Maharaja Sayajirao and Manonmaniam Sundaranar. Or UsefulNotes/{{Moldova}} State University, the Mahendra Sanskrit University in UsefulNotes/{{Nepal}}, the Mindanao State University in the Philippines, the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia, the Mahasarakham University in UsefulNotes/{{Thailand}}, the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Turkey, and UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}}'s Midlands State University. In a similar vein, UM could refer to the University of Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Maine, or Montana. (This is why the "M" will sometimes be followed by a few more letters, like "U-Mich" or "[=UMass=]".[[note]]Or, another term can be used. Mississippi will use "UM" in some academic contexts, but more often uses "Ole Miss", which is the athletic department's ''only'' approved term. Missouri uses UM in some contexts, officially calls its athletic program "Missouri", but affectionately uses "Mizzou".[[/note]]) As noted above, {{averted|Trope}} by the University of Kansas, which calls itself "KU" and leaves "UK" to the University of Kentucky.

* NCR: [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} New California Republic]], or the U.S. corporation formerly known as National Cash Register? Fans of the ''Fallout'' games working for the company might find their brains a little twisted. And it gets more confusing for Filipinos, as it also stands for National Captial Region, also known as [[UsefulNotes/{{Manila}} Metro Manila]].

* AL: American League or Alabama?

** In an episode where Bart makes a deal with some Chinese spies and gets stalked by a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) van... which turns out to stand for the ''Chinese'' Intelligence Agency instead, who congratulate him for giving them information about the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Afterward, the French Bureau of Investigation arrives, followed by the [[Series/TheATeam A Team]] of Finland. And the FBI van that says [[PaperThinDisguise "Flowers By Irene" on the side]].

* GOW? ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' or ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''? Only the two series being Xbox and UsefulNotes/PlayStation first-party exclusives respectively stops this from being extremely confusing. However, the two fandoms are actually friendly with each other about this and aside from the occasional lighthearted jest, refer to either games by the first word of the title (i.e. ''God'' or ''Gears'') instead. The former series relented and has its more recent games by the end of TheNewTens called just "''Gears''" (i.e. ''Gears 5'', ''VideoGame/GearsTactics'').

* "TT" could refer to Creator/TelltaleGames or Creator/TravellersTales, although Telltale is more often abbreviated as "TTG". It could also potentially be the character from ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'' that's ''named'' "T.T.", or the character from the also Rare-developed ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts'' named "Trophy Thomas", of which both are associated with something else starting with the same initials, Time Trials. Some people also use it to mean "toilet training", and on this website, it can mean "Troper Tales" (a defunct part of the site). Among motorcycle racing fans, TT stands for "Tourist Trophy", referring to a famed annual series of races on the UsefulNotes/IsleOfMan. Finally, there's the Franchise/TeenTitans to add on.

* PVA glue is polyvinyl acetate, but the initialism can also stand for polyvinyl alcohol, a different substance. Strangely, either can be used in conjunction with Borax to form slime. The letters can also stand for Property Valuation Administrator, a common title in the US for the head of the office who sets the value of real estate for tax purposes.