Fun With Acronyms / Western Animation

"I ain't climbin' inside no ASCRAC!"

As you'd expect, Western Animation is a rich source of acronym humor.

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Examples:

• On The Adventures of Puss in Boots Pajuna is shocked that anyone would be confused about her container of extremely dangerous Special Unfiltered Ground Arima Root, as she very clearly labelled it "SUGAR".
• D.U.F.U.S., Dr. Quark's robot from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode, "Robotnik's Rival", stands for Design Unit Flexible Underling Substitute.
• The Galaxy Rangers work for the Bureau of ExtraTerrestrial Affairs.
• In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Check", Darwin explains that if he founded an organization he would call it the Coalition of Really Really Useful People Together.
• American Dad!: Stan comes home and laments that everyone is making fun of him for having accidentally pooped in a neighbor's pool. And with the worst possible timing; Bullock just assigned him to the Tactical Urban Response Division! He briefly flashes his coat showing the acronym before it dawns on him.
  • From "Dancin' A-With My Cell" comes CRISPR: Clustered Regularly Interspace Short Palindromic Repeats.
    Bullock: That's nerd talk for "improvising a sax solo over a two-five-one change on your double helix".
    Matt Weitzmann: And that was jazz talk for "we're editing DNA".
• In The Angry Beavers episode "Salmon Sez", the Beavers' dam is blocking a group of salmon from migrating, thus preventing them from spawning. Not knowing what "spawn" means, Daggett comes up with his own definition in acronym form: Smashing Property And Whomping Norb. He then comes to the conclusion that the salmon want to "SPAWN [his] brother to death!" Unfortunately for Nickelodeon, the character name (and trademark) SPAWN was used without the written permission of Bandai Namco Entertainment, Warner Bros. and HBO.
• Animaniacs: In the episode "No Pain, No Painting", the Warners mock the fact that Pablo Piccasso has the letters "P.P." on his smock. The "P.P" in this case stands for Pablo Picasso.
• Also from the Jetix stable is A.T.O.M., standing for Alpha Teens on Machines. (Weirdly, it was also produced by the same European firm that also made W.I.T.C.H., that being SIP Animation; SIP itself stood for Saban International Paris.)
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force has a form of this: When asked what DNA stands for, Carl responds, "It stands for, Do Not enter my pool, Ass-man'."
• Archer works as a spy in I.S.I.S., for International Secret Intelligence Service. Then there's O.D.I.N., for Organization of Democratic Intelligence Networks. This was later changed after the emergence of the real-life terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), otherwise and more commonly referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
• The Wingdinglish inscription inside the titular artifact in BIONICLE: Mask of Light reads Technic Organic Apps One Destiny. Toa are the heroes of the BIONICLE world, and this was likely an Easter Egg referencing to the old "Six Heroes — One Destiny'' tagline. Of course, when the characters read it, it becomes a long-winded text of made-up words.
• The Batman Beyond episode "Golem" revolves around a giant robot called the Galvanic Lifter Machine or GOLEM.
• The Batman: The Animated Series two-parter "Heart of Steel: Part 1/Part 2" has HARDAC, which stands for Holographic Analytical Reciprocating DigitAl Computer.
• In "Rhino War" on Babar, Rataxes's general convinces himself that a shipment of crates containing games is actually weapons because GAMES is acronym for "Gonna Attack My Enemies Soon."
• Beetlejuice:
  • In "The Neitherworld's Least Wanted", the Ghost with the Most's enemies form the Society of Neitherworld Outlaws, Thugs, Rogues, Antagonists, and Gangsters.
  • In "Goody Two-Shoes", the eponymous meddling Fairy Godmother who's here to get Beetlejuice and his friends to behave themselves says she's from the Bureau of Sweetness and Prissiness (a riff on Broadcast Standards and Practices).
• The main antagonist of Birdman (1967) was the terrorist organization F.E.A.R., which the characters could never seem to decide to pronounce letter-by-letter or just say "fear". Either way, it was never revealed exactly what F.E.A.R. stood for.
• In the Bob's Burgers episode "Spaghetti Western & Meatballs", Mr. Frond runs a Conflict Resolution class where his main method of resolution is "A.B.S.": Access your feelings, Be apologetic, Slap it! (with "slap it" referring to offering a high five). Frond pronouncing the acronym "abs", as in "abdominal muscles", becomes a running gag in the episode:
  Mr. Frond: I'd like you to take a look at... My abs!
  Bob: Um, no thank you...
• In The Boondocks, Huey explains in an interview that he is the creator of over a dozen radical leftist groups, including Africans Fighting Racism and Oppression (AFRO), the Black Revolutionary Organization (BRO), and the Black Revolutionary Underground Heroes (BRUH).
• B.O.T. and the Beasties has the titular character's name stand for Beastie Observation Transmitter.
• ZZ, the main character of The BOTS Master, builds robots called BOYZZ = Brain-Operated Young Zygoetopic^note Appears to either be made-up, or a reference to their asymmetry Zoids. Also, Momzz = Maxi-Organized Mature Zygoetopic Zoid.
• The Bunsen Is a Beast episode "Amanda Gets Schooled" has the plot revolve around a test called Preparatory Overview Of Pupils, with many jokes made about what the acronym spells.
• Celebrity Deathmatch:
  • The Moral Guardians, the B.O.O.B. (Broadcasters Opposing Offensive Behavior).
  • MTV got this treatment when it was referred to as "More Television Violence" in once episode.
• In Central Park, Season 1 "Hot Oven", the Dog therapist Augustus explains to Helen that his Godzilla Threshold, when it comes to dog cases he is unable to fix, is "TOSGANO", which stands for "This One Sucks, Get A New One". One example that he states will result in a TOSGANO is if the dog has H.A.B., which means Hazardous Antisocial Behavior, a.k.a. if the dog bites someone.
• In one episode of Code Monkeys, Dean's fraternity is revealed to be Alpha Sigma Sigma. It's possible that the fraternity picked the name solely for the acronym.
• Used for the titles of every episode of Codename: Kids Next Door as an instance of Idiosyncratic Episode Naming. (Except for one of the two stories in the pilot episode.) In this case, the acronym would be explained straight after the title card to help clue the audience in on what the episode would entail. In addition, every piece of 2x4 technology used by the KND has an acronym for a name (except in the pilot), which is usually explained shortly after said gadget is introduced.
  • Then there's the crossover with The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy called "The Grim Adventures of the KND", where this practice is lampshaded with the M.A.N.D.R.O.B.O.T. (Monkeys And Nice Doggies Relax On Bellies Of Turtles).
    Mandy: What kind of acronym is that?
    Numbuh 3: Well, if you weren't in such a rush, maybe I could've come up with a better one.
  • Another episode played with it by having Numbuhs One and Two convinced that bras are a secret teenager weapon because they put the word into their "Name-inator", apparently the thing they use to get their acronyms, and it came up with the acronym "Battle Ready Armor". Turns out they're 100% correct.
• As referenced in this trope's explanation, C.O.P.S. (Animated Series), the '80s cartoon about a futuristic police force whose name stood for Central Organization of Police Specialists.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub of the series, while the acronym is still the same, it was translated in Spanish as Comando Organizado de Policias Superiores (Translated as Organized Squad of Superior Cops)
  • In the French version, it stands for Centre d'Operation^note "Organisé" has also been used. de Police Spéciale".
• In the Craig of the Creek episode "Ace of Squares", Craig is tired of being picked on by other Four Square players, so he toughens up once he becomes the game's new "Ace", deciding there's no room to be nice in the New and Improved Craig Era.
• From The Critic, during a meeting with Hollywood agents.
  Agent: Jay, ever since we at Preferred International Talent Brokers merged with United Labor Leading Specialists...
  Jay: Pitbulls?
  Agent: (turns around and looks at the giant P.I.T.B.U.L.L.S. sign) Hey look, that does spell pitbulls.
  Agent 2: Well what do you know. Well we are aggressive.
  (Agents all laugh which quickly turn into dog-like growls.)
• The Crumpets: In "Family Be Gone!", Ms. McBrisk discovers a program run by the Crumpets' Evil Uncle and Aunt that might eliminate the neighboring and disruptive Crumpets of 145 members. It's known as PERP, the Plan to Equalize and Redistribute Populations.
• In an abbreviated variant, the Crusader Rabbit arc "Sahara You?" has villain Dudley Nightshade pursued by our heroes Crusader and Rags (all about obtaining mystic desert sands to restore Galahad Glen), so he enters a building marked A.F.L. He thinks it's the Associated Federation of Labor. Turns out it was the American Foreign Legion and he just enlisted.
• Dan Vs. had an acronym in the episode Dan Vs. Children that stood for Disipline Action Knowledge and spelled out D.A.N. Also an example of Shoehorned First Letter.
• An episode of Dexter's Laboratory had Deedee and her friends, inspired by a McGruff knock-off at a school assembly, form a neighborhood watch club called "G.I.R.L. Squad", which purportedly stood for Glamorous Investigators Ready to Lick Crime (a parody of Charlie's Angels).
• Diffusion, information, et Communication: better (and later) known as "D.i.C" (later "DIC").^note The company was originally founded in France, hence the expanded French name. While the latter two are obvious, "diffusion" refers to broadcasting. The company eventually discontinued the original name, removing the periods in the process.
• Danger Mouse: In "Journey To The Earth's 'Cor!", DM finds the room with the machine holding his car frozen in mid-air, inside a door marked "C.H.M.F.F.G.," which Penfold surreptitiously pronounces as "chimuffguh." DM says it's for Car Holding Magnetic Force Field Generator.
  Penfold: Ooh. How'd you know that?
  DM: I read the script!
  • "One Of Our Stately Homes Is Missing" had B.L.E.E.P., which was the Building Location and Emergency Extradition Platoon.
  • The main villain of "Demons Aren't Dull" is a member of the 4-D Union (The union of Diabolical Delinquent Dimensional Demons) which is an affiliate of the G.G.G. Waaaoh! (Gremlins, Ghouls, Ghosts and things that go Waaaoh! in the dark).
• Played with in Donkey Kong Country, as K. Rool describes his latest weapon, the K.Rool to Crystal Coconut and Back Missile.
  K.Rool: I call it the KCC-BM!
  Klump: Um, "cuss-boom?" I think you need to recruit a few more vowels, sire!
  K.Rool: You idiot...
• Darkwing Duck parodied this with SHUSH, which did have a meaning, but it was so secret that nobody knew what it was. SHUSH's main antagonist was the evil counter-agency FOWL, The Fiendish Organization for World Larceny.
• The Time Travel device (and after it's used as such, MacGuffin) in Dino-Riders was the Space-Time Energy Projector.
• On Disney's Doug, there's a competition to name the new school, and Doug's suggestion is Learning Is Educational Middle School. It's not until he gets the acronym put on a sweatshirt for the competition that he realizes the implications.
  • There's also the episode "Quailman vs. the Annoying S.T.U.A.R.T." (Society To Undermine, Annoy, and Ruthlessly Torment)
• Drawn Together:
  • In the episode "Alzheimer's That Ends Well", Wooldoor Sockbat uses himself to obscure the view of Clara's new vagina and explains that the results of her surgery can't be shown because of the FCC. While the broadcast version of the episode bleeps out his words and pixelates his mouth, the uncensored version on the show's DVD reveals that he said the organization's name stood for "Faggoty Cock-blocking Clamfuckers".
  • Taken to a ridiculous extreme in "Little Orphan Hero" when the Drawn Together Suicide Hotline fell into a trap to accept that euthanasia would be the best option to a miserable quadraplegic man, only for him to reveal that he's part of the "Special Tactical Operations Unit To Catch People Who Set Up Suicide Hotlines Because Of A Reality Show Challenge And Then Didn't Follow Through On Them So They Cause The People Who Needed Them To Take Their Own Lives And Then They Change Their Minds When They Realize Not All People Should Be Forced to Live So They Try To Assist Someone In Euthanasia", or S.T.O.U.T.C.P.W.S.U.S.H.B.O.A.R.S.C.A.T.D.F.T.O.T.S.T.C.T.P.W.N.T.T.T.T.O.L.A.T.C.T.M.W.T.R.N.A.P.S.B.F.T.L.S.T.T.T.A.S.I.E for short.
  • The Movie of the series features the Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady, ISRAEL for short, that hunts the Drawn Together gang. This leads to lines like "ISRAEL? Why the fuck is it on our land when we already live here?" and "ISRAEL must be aggressive to survive." Note that the show's creators are Jewish.
• The Drak Pack featured the Organization of Generally Rotten Enterprises (or, as one episode claims, Endeavors).
• Dragons: Riders of Berk: Faced with Toothless and the other dragons being exiled from Berk thanks to a Frame-Up, Hiccup creates the Dragon United Monitoring Brigade to prove their innocence. He even has sashes with said acronym on them made for the other riders, but none of them are eager to wear them.
• DuckTales:
  • In the "Super Ducktales" five-parter from the original series, Scrooge, Gizmoduck, and Launchpad go to a robot planet that's ruled by a Humongous Mecha named Master Electronic Leader.
• Ducktales 2017: Recurring villain Mark Beaks is fond of this, to the point of naming his son Boyd - standing for Beaks Optimistic Youth Droid. After an incident in Tokyolk leads to Boyd ditching his deadly programming for good, he renames himself Boyd - this time standing for Be Only Yourself, Dude.
  • The organizations F.O.W.L. and S.H.U.S.H. also appear, with F.O.W.L. being the Fiendish Organization of World Larceny and S.H.U.S.H.'s meaning being unknown. Notably, F.O.W.L. was originally just called O.W.L. by its pragmatic founder, but the F was added because its first recruit (A Card-Carrying Villain) wouldn't join otherwise.
• The Fantastic Four (1978) animated series replaced the Human Torch with the "Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics", or "H.E.R.B.I.E."
• An episode of The Fairly OddParents! shows that Vicky is part of a group called Babysitters Raging Against Twerps.
  • In another episode, Timmy's enemies team up to form the League Of Super Evil Revenge Seekers.
  • One episode features F.U.N. Academy. It's a military school For the Unruly Ne'er-do-well. The Drill Sergeant Nasty admits it's a misleading acronym.
• Fillmore! had a fantastic satire of this. There was a nameless protester who held up a sign that said A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. It stood for "All Creatures Really Only Need Your Mercy."
• According to this article, the title of FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman actually stands for "Fabulously Entertaining TV with a Canine Host."
• Futurama had Fathers Against Rude Television in the episode "Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television". ("And for what? A cheap laugh? That's not what F-A-R-T is about!" "No sir! Not us FARTers!")
  • The show also had Mankind for Ethical Animal Treatment, and the UN-like interplanetary alliance known as the Democratic Order Of Planets.
  • A special feature on the Bender's Game DVD has the anti-piracy organization Downloading Often Is Terrible.
  • In "31st Century Fox", Bender starts a group against robot animal cruelty called, "Bender's Animal Robot Front."
  • "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" has G.I. Zapp's team go up against the terrorist group, ACRONYM, A Criminal Regiment Of Nasty Young Men.
• Gargoyles:
  • "Legion" features the Reconnaissance Emergency Cyber-Automated Probe, a ground relay drone used by the NYPD.
  • The Goliath Chronicles had a pro-integration group called People for Interspecies Tolerance. What made it brilliant was the fact that their enemies were called the Quarrymen.
• Get Ace: Ace's holographic butler Hugo's name is short for Holographic User Guidance Operative.
• Godzilla: The Series:
  • S.C.A.L.E. or Servants of Creatures Arriving Late to Earth, eco-terrorists believing the mutations living on Monster Island was just evolution saying humanity's time was up. Leader of said group is so outside her gourd that she doesn't mind being eaten by anyone of them.
  • And of course there's also the Five-Man Band known as H.E.A.T. or Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team (originally proposed as High-performance Environmental Attack Team), and their Robot Buddy Butt-Monkey, N.I.G.E.L. or Next-millenium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liaison. Randy promptly lampshades with "Shouldn't that be 'NMIGEL'?"
  • One of the Monster of the Week is called a Dragma, but its name's origins comes from the Democratic Resurgence Against a Global Mechanized Armageddon.
• Green Eggs and Ham: BADGUYS stands for “Bureau of Animal Defense, Glurfsberg, Upper Yipville Section". The Meepville branch is the Bureau of Animal Defense Meepville Environmental Network, or BADMEN.
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy used this trope in the short "Senior Power", where Hoss Delgado's proposed technique for senior self-defense was spelled out as Power, Offense, Obstruction, and Protection.
• The final theatrical Heckle and Jeckle cartoon, 1966's "Messed-Up Movie Makers" had the two running a hotel that a movie studio was renting asunder filming a TV series. After getting rid of them, a little old lady asks if they'd accommodate her convention, the N.P.L.S.A., or the National Pet Lovers Society of America. The boys agree, only the pets are a jungleful of wild and exotic beasts who do more damage than the movie studio did.
• Hercules: The Animated Series has a group called the People's Organization Of Titan Liberators, who take the school hostage in an attempt to release the Titans. Unfortunately there's a lot of confusion as people keep pronouncing their name as "Poodles" and questioning what a bunch of little dogs are going to do.
• Invader Zim:
  • The Irken invaders are provided with "SIR"s, or Standard-issue Information Retrieval units. Zim, ever getting the short end of the stick, received a "GIR" model. When asked what the 'G' stood for, GIR cheerfully replied that he didn't know, then began to beat himself on the head while giggling maniacally. Word of God says "GIR" doesn't stand for anything, though a common assumption is that it stands for "garbage," as GIR was made out of parts from a nearby garbage can.
  • In another episode, Professor Membrane invents a machine called a Perpetual Energy Generator.
• Kim Possible had fun acronyms for things such as the villainous Worldwide Evil Empire, or "WEE" and the counter-agency Global Justice, or "GJ".
  • And since this is Kim Possible, there was lampshading:
    Gemini: The Worldwide Evil Empire, also known as WEE. It's an acronym.
    Ron: Acronym. Hmm, yeah, that's a school word. I should know this.
    Gemini: I am Gemini!
    Ron: Dude, I am Virgo, but what's your name?
    Gemini: Gemini!
    Ron: Oh, it's an acronym! Oh-kay!
  • And then we have the one college Kim's dad applied to: MIST: Middleton's Institute of Science and Technology.
• King of the Hill: In the pilot, Dale tries to crack a joke about Hank's Ford truck, but gets his car brands mixed up.
  Dale: I know what's wrong with it. It's a Ford. You know what they say Ford stands for, don't ya? It stands for "Fix It Again, Tony."
  Hank: Dale, that's Fiat.
• The Canadian cartoon League of Super Evil, aka L.O.S.E. The show's premise is of the comical Villain Protagonists and their constant failure to conquer their own neighborhood.
  • In "Gameageddon" Red Menace has a case of Fully Aggressive Recreational Terminal Syndrome.
• The episode "Monster Con" from The Life and Times of Juniper Lee features a secret government agency known as Humans for the Abolishment of Magic (HAM), which uses high-tech equipment to see and capture monsters that are Invisible to Normals.
  • The episode "Sealed with a Fist" features League Of Villainous Evildoers (perhaps Doofenshmirtz used to watch that cartoon) and Heroes Against Terrible Evildoers. Will the O.W.C.A. ever be replaced with a group called H.A.T.E.-M.U.F.F.I.N.?
• Littlest Pet Shop (2012) takes this quite literally: Blythe attends a fashion camp called Fashion University North.
  • Also subverted when Sheriff Blythe sees the Biskit Bandits destroying, trespassing and theft of a LHOTP-esque house (in which "LHOTP" stood for "Little House On The Prairie") that belonged to her ancestor by saying GTJ which means Going To Jail.
• The subtitle of Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own abbreviates to AWOOO, which sounds like an onomatopoeia for howling.
• A mermaid-like friend in The Little Mermaid (1992) says one of the following acronyms to Ariel after she wakes up: GMA (which means Good Morning, Ariel) (a nod to ABC's GMA which stood for Good Morning, America since Disney owns these properties).
• Mary Kate and Ashley in Action! had a robotic dog who follows the girls around the world. Unbeknownst to them, it stood for something else as he assisted the girls in their missions to track down villains. He also assists the girls in their daily schoolwork as they are taking days off from their adventures.
• The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack featured the main characters in a runaway trolley. Cut away down the harbor to the resident Gadgeteer Genius showing off his latest ramp-like invention: "I call it R.A.M.P.! Radical Ascension—"Then the trolley smashes right through it.
  • He also created M.U.S.L. (pronounced "muscle"), short for Magical Under Sea Lair.
• Molly of Denali: In "Fiddlesticks," Oscar comes up with a mnemonic to help Molly learn the fiddle strings - Good Dogs Always Eat.
• In Inspector Gadget the criminal organization MAD either stood for Mean And Dirty or the Malevolent Agency of Destruction. It was never officially revealed what the name stood for, or even if it was an acronym at all.
• The titular heroic organization on M.A.S.K. stood for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand. The criminal organization of that show, meanwhile, was the Vicious Evil Network Of Mayhem.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
  • "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" has Pinkie Pie guarding Mr. and Mrs. Cake's entry in the Equestrian National Dessert Competition, a cake known as the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, or "MMMM" for short.
  • In "Slice of Life", it's revealed that Lyra Heartstrings' friend Bon Bon is actually Sweetie Drops, a former secret agent. In the tie-in novel Lyra and Bon Bon and the Mares from S.M.I.L.E., we find out more about the agency Sweetie Drops used to work for, the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria (who refer to the Mane Six as the Friendship Ranger Organization of Worldwide Neighgotiations).
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes has the Super Team P.O.I.N.T., which stands for Powerful Operatives Investigating and Neutralizing Trouble.
• Oh No! It's An Alien Invasion: The kids' resistance movement against the Brainling invasion is known as S.W.E.E.T.: Super Wicked Extreme Emergency Team.
• Played with every which way in Phineas and Ferb:
  • In the episode "Swiss Family Phineas", part of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's plan is to open up the Doofenshmirtz Institute of Evilology...where in only 6 weeks, students can earn a certificate in mayhem, larceny, or Ponzi schemes!
  • The episode "Interview with a Platypus", with Dr. Doofenshmirtz planning to flood Danville so everyone will have to buy his latest invention: the Buoyancy Operated Aquatic Transport (Pronounced "BOH-att"). Perry thwarts this plan by opening the Metropolitan Oval Aquatic Trench at just the right moment.
    Dr. Doofenshmirtz: (lampshading for us again) Oh, hey, look, it spells "moat"!^note pronounced properly I never noticed that before!
  • From "Backyard Aquarium":
    Dr. Doofenshmirtz: Say hello to the Platypus Secret Agent Arrival In Order To Foil My Evil Plot Capture-inator! Or as I like to call it, my P.S.A.A.I.O.T.F.M.E.P.C.-inator." and "Behold! The Hot Dog Vendor Revenginator! Or, my H.D.V.R., er, er, inator. I have to work on my acronyms.
  • Subverted with Perry's spy agency, in "Summer Belongs to You!" his agency is officially named O.W.C.A (pronounced in a similar fashion to orca) or "The Organization Without a Cool Acronym." Yes, Yes they did just go meta with their lampshading, somewhat of a Running Gag.
  • "Comet Kermillian" gives us Dr. Doofenshmirtz's Steak Containment Unit, pronounced "SKUH"... And then later on "SKOO".
  • As revealed in "Nerdy Dancin'", Doofenshmirtz's unfortunately named evil organization is known as the League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments in Naughtiness. L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N.
  • In "Moon Farm" Perry gets in Doofenshmirtz's home through a Central Access Threshold door. Doofenshmirtz really needs to just realize a cat door for what it is. See also the BO-AT above.
  • Vanessa's mom says she'll meet her at "feh". Turns out she was referring to the Freight Emergency Harbor. It Makes Sense in Context sort of.
  • "The Secret of Success" gives us a whole slew of them from a stereotypical college preparedness workshop:
    • B.L.A.R.F.: Be Living Always Really Focused
    • N.A.R.G.: Never Abandon Realizing Your Goals, which Candace notes should be N.A.R.Y.G.
    • F.R.E.E.P.O.: We never find out what it means.
• Pinky and the Brain:
  • In the origin story episode when Project B.R.A.I.N., (Biological Recombinant Algorithmic Intelligence Nexus) the gene-splicing program that gave Pinky and Brain their intelligence, appears to have failed, the military superior to the scientists working on the program angrily tells them that they'll now be working on "Project B.R.A.W.N." When asked, he says that he doesn't know what it's for; they only had the acronym at the moment.
  • In "Das Mouse", while commandeering a submarine, Brain asks Pinky to randomly change the radar signal beacon letters so that they couldn't be followed. Naturally, Pinky changes it to "NARF", unfortunately a government facility translates it to Nuclear Attack Readiness Formation.
  • The Horde of Ecumenical Yodelers is a secret society consisting of world leaders. They don't actually yodel.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
  • The Professor created the DY.NA.MO. (DYnamic NAnotechtronic MOnobot) in "Uh-oh... Dynamo" and B.E.E.B.O. (Biogenetically Engineered Experimental Bipedal Organism) in "Pet Feud".
  • "Members Only" had Association of World Super Men, and later, the Society of Associated Puffketeers.
• During World War II, Warner Brothers animators produced a series of shorts for soldiers to educate and inform them on military matters. The cartoons starred the "world's worst soldier", Private Snafu. S.N.A.F.U. is of course a military acronym; Situation Normal, All... Fouled Up.
• One Recess episode where the government cancels recess in a poor attempt to boost test scores, they re-introduce it under the acronym Reversing Effects of Continuous Educational Stress Syndrome, or "reckess" as it is pronounced. Actually, the show's creators made up the acronym when they debuted the cartoon in 1997 on ABC (shortly before Pound Puppies debuted).
• Rocko's Modern Life:
  • The show had an episode in which Heffer shows Rocko his ticket to the All Scottish Show. The acronym-making first letters are large red capitals, bigger and colored differently than the rest of the letters.
  • Bighead Studios. The initials show up everywhere when Ralph Bighead makes an appearance on the show.
• The leader of the Spacecats, the Disembodied Omnipotent Ruler of Cats, was perpetually oblivious about how his name abbreviated.
  "What a DORC."
• The Secret Show had the good guys U.Z.Z. and the bad guys T.H.E.M. U.Z.Z. stands for Umbo Zim Zom while T.H.E.M. stands for The Horrible Evil Menace.
• The Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! episode "Party Arty" featured a robotic assassin dubbed A.R.T. (Automated Robotic Tactical Unit).
• Subverted in Sheep in the Big City with Operation Kidnap The Sheep That We Need For The Ray Gun And Make Sure He Doesn't Get Away Again Storm. When Private Public complains that it's too long, he's told to just refer to it by its acronym: Operation KTSTWNFTRGAMSHDGAAS.
• SheZow had FACT which stood for Females Against Copyright Theft (a reference to The UK's "Federation Against Copyright Theft") ("And for what? A boy downloading a pirated episode of me? That's not what F-A-C-T is about!" "NOW, GET LOST, MR. ILLEGAL DOWNLOADER! YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED EPISODES OF ME! YOU THERE! STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW! YOU ARE NOW UNDER ARREST FOR DOWNLOADING PIRATED EPISODES OF ME!").
• Frequently Played for Laughs on The Simpsons:
  • "Separate Vocations" had the Career Aptitude Normalizing Test.
  • In "Much Apu About Nothing", Apu earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology.
  • In "Bart the Murderer", after Marge realizes the "pizza delivery" truck across the street has been there for about a week ("How long does it take to deliver a pizza?"), it drives off and is replaced by another van with "Flowers By Irene" on the side.
  • "Romie-Old And Julie-Eh" had Bart and Lisa ordering boxes from American Shipping Service.
  • In "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples, and Teens and Gays", the eponymous group abbreviates themselves to "SSCCaTaG". Marge forms her own protest group, the even longer PPASSCCaTaG: "Proud Parents Against Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples, and Teens, and Gays".
  • Averted in "Marge vs. Itchy and Scratchy" with Marge's Moral Guardians group Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding and Helping, which is both unfunny and without a double meaning.
  • In "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" Krusty once hosted the Krusty Komedy Klassic — at the Apollo Theater. Produce Pelting immediately followed (after he lampshaded the nasty abbreviation).
  • In "Krusty Gets Busted", there's Parents United against Krusty's Evil.
  • "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)" had Electronic Automatic Robotic Lighthouse.
  • At a sexual harassment seminar in the Nuclear Plant, the whiteboard in the background reads, "Realize Even Soft-core Pornography Eventually Causes Trouble."
  • In "The President Wore Pearls", Principal Skinner unleashes operation SLAAAM: So Long Athletics, Art And Music.
  • "Fat Man And Little Boy" shows that Martin Prince has a robot called, Childlike Humanoid Urban Muchacho.
  • Taken in a different direction, Homer's BBBQ in "Lisa the Vegetarian". The extra B stands for "BYOBB"
    Lisa: What's that extra B for?
    Homer: That's a typo.
  • In "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", the Memory Recovery Institute has a disclaimer out front: we do not do MRIs. Also, when Homer calls Professor Frink a nerd, Frink invokes Insult Backfire, saying that he chooses to think of "nerd" as an acronym for Not Even Remotely Dorky.
  • In "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", after Marge mistakenly tests positive for crack and PCP (and is subsequently found clean), she asserts that the only thing she's high on is Love for her Son and Daughters.
    Marge: Yes, a little LSD is all I need.
• In "The Squirt and the Whale", Lisa has a dream where a beached whale that she dubs Bluella is saved by We Helped Airlift Lisa's Enormous Soulmate.
• One episode of South Park took an existing organization called "NAMBLA" (North American Man-Boy Love Association) and created another "NAMBLA" that stood for National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes. It helped that the show already had an established character, Dr. Alphonse Mephesto, who was a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Marlon Brando, so they could make him a member.
• On Special Agent Oso, the title character works for an organization called "U.N.I.Q.U.E.", though just what that stands for is anybody's guess.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • Spoofed in the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", when Mermaid Man's biggest villains (including his sidekick, who has done a Face–Heel Turn) form EVIL — Every Villain Is Lemons.
  • In "The Great Patty Caper" when SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are debating whether to add land salt or sea salt in the patties. Mr. Krabs brings up the acronym SCABS for Salt Comes After Barnacle Shavings. Then he brings up the acronym LESIONS, but we never know what it means. Spongebob asks about PUSTULE, then Mr. Krabs says "Heavens no! That's disgusting..."
  • Spoofed in "Krusty Krab Training Video", in which the acronym POOP stood for People Order Our Patties. In the Spanish version it's CACA, a Spanish slang term for feces: Clientes Adoran Comer Aquí (Customers love eating here).
  • In "F.U.N.", three acronyms are provided for the word "fun". SpongeBob has both "friends who do stuff together, u and me, n-ywhere and n-ytime at all" and "frolic through all the flowers, ukulele, nose-picking chewing gum and sand-licking." Plankton turns it into "fire that burns down the whole town, uranium bombs, no survivors."
  • "Boat Smarts" gives us the C.O.B.B.U.T.K.S.B.S.P.O.T.R.A.O.O.B.A.T. (Citizens Of Bikini Bottom United To Keep SpongeBob SquarePants Off The Road And Out Of Boats All Together)
  • "Banned in Bikini Bottom": The United Organization Of Fish Against Things That Are Fun And Delicious, or TUOFATTAFFAD for short.
  • Plankton's computer "wife", Karen.
    Karen: I'm your wife!
    Plankton: You're a W.I.F.E., A Wired Integrated Female Electroencephalograph!
    • And her back-up E.M.I.L.P, Emergency Mother-In-Law Program in "Enemy In-Law".
  • "Swamp Mates" has the Guild Of Obsessive Fans, or G.O.O.F.s
• Stripperella's favourite charity is Animals Need Universal Support, which she plugs at every opportunity.
• Stunt Dawgs:
  • From the theme song. "D is for danger upon which we thrive. A is for action, Makes it fun to be alive. W is for wild things we always do. G is for the gross stuff that's really cool. And S just makes it plural."
  • Needham's catchphrases T. T. Kaaaaaaaay B. (Time to kiiiiiiiick butt!) and P. B. T. (Pay-back time!).
• TaleSpin:
  • In "On a Wing and a Bear", Baloo goes to the Federal Licensing Agency for Pilots to get his pilot's license renewed after he discovers it's expired.
  • In "All's Whale that Ends Whale", Inspector Burrough works for the Agency Concerned with the Happiness of Oceanic Oddities. When Seymour hears the acronym, he says "Gesundheit", having mistaken it for a sneeze.
• Teacher's Pet:
  • The episode "Movin' On Pup" features a test referred to as the National Aptitude Scholastic Test Yearly.
  • The Finale Movie twice uses the acronym N.E.A.T.O., the first time referring to Mrs. Helperman's National Excellent American Teacher's Organization award and the second time referring to Dr. Ivan Krank's invention the Neuro Exchange Animal Transformation Operation.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
  • One episode of the 2003 series has a bunch of lunatics called Humans Against The Extraterrestrials.
  • The 2012 cartoon turns Baxter Stockman's iconic mousers into Mobile Offensive Underground Search Excavation and Retrieval Sentries.
    Leonardo: Seems a little forced.
• Teen Titans Go! had an episode called "P.P.", where the titular acronym stands for "pet peeves". Of course, Beast Boy mistakes this for the act of using the bathroom.
• Tiny Toon Adventures:
  • The Adult Coalition Against Funny Cartoons. Don't even try pronouncing it.
  • An episode revolved around a new robot student called Cybernetic Laser Ionized Digital Entity. Within the same episode, Monty buys a rival robot, Super New Improved Droid Eradicator.
• The 1966 Tom and Jerry cartoon "The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R" is a play on fellow MGM property The Man from U.N.C.L.E., although the meaning of the cartoon's acronym is never disclosed.
• The Tom Of T.H.U.M.B. segment of the 1966 King Kong cartoon (Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau) had a criminal organization called "MAD" which meant Maladjusted, Anti-social and Darn mean.
• TOM, the host of Toonami, is short for Toonami Operations Module.
• Totally Spies! can't avoid this either. There is an organization called League Aiming to Menace and Overthrow Spies, even after Terrence found out what the acronym was, he kept it anyway.
  • He felt the name was appropriate after hearing the pathetic plans the villains had, but what can one expect from a bunch of idiots that are so Genre Blind that not only do they put the heroes in overly elaborate death traps, in subsequent encounters that keep making that same mistake.
  • There's also the main organization WOOHP (the World Organization Of Human Protection), which a villain trying to change the past nearly turned into the World Organization Of Harming People. Another episode had a group called G.O.O.P.E.R, which was later revealed to be an acronym for Global Organization Of Pilfering Extraterrestrial Resources, and apparently nobody but the members of the group knew this.
  • This often (but not always) happens with the girls' gadgets. The most recurring one is the "UPWATI"^note "Up-what-y?" "Not 'up-what-y', 'UPWATI'.", or Underwater Power Walking Apperatus That's Inconspicuous.
• Transformers: Animated:
  • The show has a train invented by Professor Sumdac called the "Fully Automated Rapid Transit System". According to the series creators this was entirely unintentional.
  • This was lampshaded during a script-reading where Sumdac showed off his "Bi-directional Unified Transit Terminal, which would let the Autobots get back to Cybertron by putting a crack in space. Everyone else makes several veiled jokes about it, while Sumdac apparently remained entirely oblivious.
  • Lugnut's Megaton Punch was given a name in the fandom before later being made official. It's called the Punch Of Kill Everything.
  • Transformers: Shattered Glass has a Kill Sat called the Global Orbital Defense Satellite; the control transmitters of which are located at the Burpleson Air Force Base.
  • The Legion of Doom in Transformers: Animated is the Society of Ultimate Villainy. Their heroic counterparts in the Animated version of Shattered Glass are the Heroic Youths Battling Robots Infesting Detroit, presumably on the logic that a hybrid car is the "good opposite" of an SUV.
• Transformers: Prime:
  • The nuclear device called the Dynamic Nuclear Generation System, which was constantly referred to, with completely serious delivery, as "the dingus".
  • The terrorist organization, M.E.C.H. What the acronym stands for is currently unknown.
  • C.Y.L.A.S. (Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis), a life support system made from Breakdown's remains.
• T.U.F.F. Puppy is fond of these, namely the names of headquarters.
  • T.U.F.F. = Turbo Undercover Fighting Force
  • D.O.O.M. = Diabolical Order Of Mayhem
  • G.L.O.O.M. = Genius Larry's Order Of Mayhem
  • F.L.O.P.P. = Fiendish League Of Potential Perpetrators
• Turbo F.A.S.T. makes regular use of this, often overlapping with Recursive Acronym:
  • Fast Action Stunt Team (when asked about what their name would be, the gang was originally going to call it the Fast Action Racing Team)
  • In "Beat-A-Fajita", the FAST crew is opposed by FAJITA, which stands for Fajita Action Jet-Injected Team Awesome.
  • In "Dome Sweet Dome", Ace Gecko sells Chet an Ionic Dome Invisibility Object Transmitter, which is just a vibrating button. Chet doesn't realize what the acronym is until Whiplash points it out.
  • In "My Pet Clamsquatch", Skidmark claims to be protecting Clamson from S.E.C.R.E.T., or the Secret Entomological Cryptozoology Research and Extraction Team.
  • Parodied with Skidmark's group C.O.N.S.P.I.R.A.C.Y.; they have the acronym, but can't agree on what it stands for.
• In The Venture Bros., the Venture nanny robot H.E.L.P.eR. (Humanoid Electric Lab Partner Robot; Apparently, that acronym was so hard to match they had to put an "e" in for aesthetic reasons) and security robot G.U.A.R.D.O.
• The Weekenders gave us this ittle gem:
  Carver: I'm C.A.R.P! It stands for Cool And Radically Popular.
  Tino: Good thing you didn't want to be Cool, Rich And Popular.
  Carver: Why?
• Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa had an acronym which is Code Of the West.
• One word: W.I.T.C.H. Born of Hay Lin jokingly writing down on her hand the initials of the group after they found out they had magic powers (according to Taranee and Irma, she had been poisoned by the ink of writing on her hand too many times).
  • The 4Kids and FUNimation Productions, Ltd. dub of Winx Club made a pointed jab at W.I.T.C.H. when Stella wanted to call themselves "B.S.M.T.F.": "Beauty, style, magic, taste, and flair. And those are also the first letters in each of our names (which in turn becomes Bloom, Stella, Musa, Tecna, and Flora)". Aisha (aka Layla) and Roxy weren't yet part of the team at this point. (This was likely because many thought W.I.T.C.H. was a knockoff of Winx Club; it was actually the opposite, as W.I.T.C.H. had been running in comic form for several years before getting an Animated Adaptation; however, Winx reached the American airwaves first, thus leading to the confusion.)
  • When the previous team of Guardians is revealed, Hay Lin does it again, and gets C.H.Y.K.N. (pronounced "chicken"). She isn't fond of that revelation.
  • In the comic book she does it again with the names of the main actresses in a musical whose plot (written by Will) is based on the first arc. The result? M.A.G.I.C.
• The Canadian show The Wrong Coast had a sketch that combined S.W.A.T. with Antiques Roadshow to create S.W.A.T.A.W.A.T.A.T.A.A.: Special Weapon And Tactics As Well As The Ability To Appraise Antiques
• Young Justice (2010):
  • Professor Ivo gave his robotic Monkey's the acronym: Mobile Optimal Neural Quotient Infiltrators. He gets annoyed when Superboy destroys them, because it took him a long time to come up with an acronym for Monkey.
  • The first letter of every episode in Season 3 spells out the acronym: P.R.E.P.A.R.E. T.H.E. A.N.T.I. L.I.F.E. E.Q.U.A.T.I.O.N.
  • Likewise, the episodes in Season 4 spell out the acronym: I.N.V.I.T.A.T.A.T.I.O.N. T.O. K.N.E.E.L. B.E.F.O.R.E. Z.O.D.

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