Don Mulford
Acronyms
Such a lot of words in English
Stem from various classic roots,
Some from Greek and some from Latin,
Some from other lingual shoots;
But our lexicon is changing in this scientific age,
And the new words that we use are just initials.
In today’s communication
There’s an effort to be brief,
But we find so very often
Brevity can lead to grief.
Though the meaning is explicit to the wielder of the pen,
It’s not always so apparent to the reader.
Though we think we all write English,
If we stop and think a while
We’ll soon come to the conclusion
That our acronymic style
Is just like a foreign language to the average he or she,
And they’ll find it quite mysterious, just like me!
And it’s all because of brevity,
The need to keep it short;
The true names for so many things
Are never even taught.
To the layman it’s confusing in this scientific age,
And it’s so much simpler with abbreviations.
But d’you know what the new words mean?
Are they all clear to you?
Or do they leave you mystified?
I’m sure you’ll say they do!
I’d rather use the long way round, pronouncing every word
Than try to figure out initial letters.
But sad to say, I know it’s true,
Some things I can’t remember
Although I study steadily
>From April to December!
I’ll have to use the acronyms - pretend I understand,
In the hope that it will seem I’m educated.
Think of 'Random Access Memory.
That’s RAM to you and me!
Other words like AIDS and RADAR
Now are in our diction’ry,
And we use such words so freely, never asking what they mean,
And we soon forget they’re made up of initials.
Does It all make language richer?
Does it help us help us tell the tale?
Or does it hinder poets
When they seek their holy grail?
In days of old when we said Kiss.
Romance would come to mind,
And we’d turn our thoughts to verses about lovers!
But nowadays it’s different;
Now technology’s supreme!
Secret kisses in a garden seem to be a long-lost dream.
No longer does a word like Kiss
Invoke such blissful verse;
Now it simply tells us, Keep It Simple, Stupid.