Up next in 10
Acronyms are ways to make the already-pretty-confusing English language even more confusing. On this episode of The List Show, we break down some little-known acronyms and initialisms, from canola to captcha. Didn't realize those were acronyms? We didn't either.
Justin (@JuddToday) breaks down all of these words-within-words for you on this episode of The List Show. If you have an idea for a future episode of The List Show, throw it in the comments below ASAP (that's an acronym joke).
In case you forgot, The List Show is a trivia-tastic, fact-filled show for curious people. Subscribe here for new videos every week: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ5...
Don't miss a video! Subscribe NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss?sub_confirmation=1
About Mental Floss:
Mental Floss is where curious people come for trivia-tastic information. Mental Floss produces lists of fun facts, debunks common misconceptions, and tells untold stories from history, science, culture and more.
Website: http://www.mentalfloss.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mental_floss
Facebook: https://facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine
Copyright Notice: This video and YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are property of Mental Floss. You are authorized to share the video link and channel, and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to this YouTube Channel is provided.
2025 Mental Floss
25 Acronyms & Initialisms | Mental Floss
https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
As we all know, the only way to trick a hyper-intelligent robot is to show them some squiggly letters
0:06
You probably had to take one of these CAPTCHA tests sometime this week, but did you know that CAPTCHA is actually an acronym
0:12
It stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart
0:18
Coined in 2003, the name references Alan Turing, who invented the Turing test
0:23
originally called the Imitation Game, which is used to test the machine's ability to exhibit artificially intelligent behavior
0:29
and mimic a human. Now, all types of simple Turing tests are used to prevent spam bots
0:34
from stealing people's information, mostly. Hi, I'm Justin Dodd, and welcome to a special
0:39
bonus episode of The List Show from my living room. CAPTCHA is one of many acronyms that you
0:45
might not know the origins of, or heck, if you're like me, you might not have realized CAPTCHA
0:49
stood for anything at all. We've got 25 acronyms and initialisms for you today, so
0:54
So let's get started ASAP. Get it? Cause uh, ASAP is��
1:06
The name GEICO wasn't just chosen to create an opportunity in the underserved gecko spokesman market
1:12
No, it's an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company. When it first began it was targeted mainly to US government employees and military personnel
1:20
But now, they offer insurance for all Americans and some British amphibians
1:25
Or Australian amphibians? Where is he from? The cooking spray isn't named after anyone called PAM
1:31
It stands for Product of Arthur Meyerhoff, who is the founder of PAM Products Inc
1:36
Speaking of cooking, canola is not a plant that provides oil. Canola is actually an acronym
1:42
It was originally a trademark name of the Rapeseed Association of Canada, which means
1:46
the CAN stands for Canada, and OLA stands for oil, low acid. Canola
1:53
That five-digit zip code that you enter every time you're ordering pizza online, that stands
1:57
for Zone Improvement Plan. It was created by the US Postal Service, and the term was
2:02
actually service-marked, which is basically a fancy legal trademark, until 1997. The company H&M started in 1947 as women's fashion retailer Hens, which is Swedish for
2:13
HERS. In 1968 they acquired, weirdly enough, a hunting, apparel, and fishing equipment retailer
2:19
named Maritz Whitfurs and the name became Hens and Maritz In 1974 it was simplified to just H Kinda sad that you can buy fishing lures at an H anymore but I suppose the demand for ironic graphic t was just too great to ignore
2:34
Aflac was originally called American Family Life Insurance Company of Columbus. It was later renamed to American Family Life Assurance Company, which was then shortened
2:43
to Aflac, which, to their credit, does sound better than Aflacock. Kmart is not, in fact, a place to shop for the letter K
2:51
The K is for Kresge, as in founder Sebastian S. Kresge. If you're looking to purchase some Ks, you'll probably just have to head to either a K Depot
2:58
or Ks R Us. The TARDIS, the trusty vehicle of Doctor Who, resembles a British police phone box
3:04
It's become an iconic symbol of the beloved sci-fi series. But if you thought TARDIS was just a fancy futuristic-sounding name, come on, you should
3:12
know better. At this point, it stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space
3:17
Fun fact, the word TARDIS is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. DC Comics has given us Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Superman
3:26
You heard of them? It was originally founded as National Allied Publications in 1934
3:30
and soon after became Detective Comics Incorporated, named after one of their comic lines which famously, in issue 27
3:37
would debut Batman, my personal favorite superhero. They later acquired All-American Publications
3:43
who in their line Action Comics had debuted Superman in issue 1
3:47
At this point, they were known as National Periodical Publications but it's said that they had already been branding themselves unofficially as Superman DC for years
3:57
In 1977, they would officially adopt the name DC Comics, which I guess makes them Detective Comics Comics
4:04
If you are a true 90s kid, you are probably sick of media companies shamelessly appealing to your nostalgia
4:11
You might also remember POGs, the collectible dish-shaped toys. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name POG is an acronym for passion fruit, orange, and guava
4:20
named after a drink in Maui that provided the lids for the first games
4:24
LED lights have become way more popular over the last decade, offering relatively high output in an energy-efficient package
4:31
Did you know that LED stands for Light Emitting Diode? Making the phrase LED light redundant, so let's just stop saying it
4:38
WD-40 was invented in a small lab in San Diego, California. The staff of the Rocket Chemical Company were attempting to make a formula that would displace water
4:47
which is essentially what the product is doing when it loosens rusted parts or frees up sticky mechanisms As the story goes it took them 40 tries to perfect it Water displacement perfected on the 40th try WD40
5:00
DVD is an interesting example of an acronym where the full title has actually changed
5:05
over the years. Originally, it stood for Digital Video Disc, which many of you might have known, but in
5:10
1995, DVD manufacturers agreed that, in order to emphasize the flexibility of the format
5:16
for multimedia applications, the preferred abbreviation DVD would be understood to denote
5:21
digital versatile disk. Unfortunately, the abbreviation doesn't matter as much anymore because they have fallen in
5:27
popularity due to the convenient world of streaming. Unless you are me, in which case you still have hundreds
5:35
If you're into terrible candy, you might be a fan of Necco wafers. But did you know that Necco is an acronym for New England Confectionary Company
5:43
I mean, just buy some Skittles. Come on. Remember ALF? Yeah, me either
5:48
But just as ET stands for extraterrestrial, ALF stands for alien life form
5:52
What was going on in the 80s? Famous nail polish brand OPI was originally founded as dental supply company Auditorium
6:00
Products Incorporated. The company's CEO made the switch when he realized that their dental acrylics were being
6:05
used in the manicure industry. Thus OPI was born. LG used to stand for Lucky Gold Star, the original name of the company, but now LG says that
6:14
stands for Life's Good. Okay. Which, by the way, the phrase okay has a very long and interesting
6:21
origin, but we don't have time for that right now. When it was founded in 1963, CVS stood for
6:28
Consumer Value Stores. They only sold health and beauty products at the time, but a few years later
6:33
they introduced pharmacies and in 1996 their parent company, Melville Corporation, became
6:38
CVS Corporation. Girls who were shopping for jeans in the early 2000s might remember LEI
6:43
The name stands for Life, Energy, Intelligence. What that has to do with young adult denim is beyond me, but there you go
6:51
While SEALs are not the most impressive or dangerous creatures in the animal world, Navy SEALs kind of are
6:58
SEAL stands for Sea, Air, and Land. The US Navy SEAL teams have been active since 1962
7:04
The name Yahoo, which, if you're like me, immediately manifests the commercial yodeling
7:08
directly into my brain, is actually an acronym. It was initially called Jerry and David Guide to the World Wide Web which seems like a perfect name for one of the world biggest companies but as it grew in popularity it was changed to Yahoo which is an acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle according to Britannica
7:28
Although another story goes that the founders chose it simply because they liked the existing
7:32
definition of Yahoo. Rude, unsophisticated, uncouth. I personally never assumed Care Package stood for anything
7:41
It seemed to make perfect sense. My mother sends me care packages all the time, because she cares about me
7:47
But the first care packages were put together in the aftermath of World War II, with the
7:52
aim of providing food relief to war-torn Europe. They were organized by a group called Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, which
7:59
was later changed to Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere. Either way, it's care
8:05
Who knew? You can literally see behind me a bookshelf from IKEA, which I'm using to display my
8:11
disgusting collection of board games. IKEA stands for, and I'm so very sorry for this
8:16
pronunciation, Ingvar Kamprad Almtared Agunard. The first half is the founder's name, followed
8:22
by the farm where he grew up, and finally, his hometown. Yoif, the name of that one is
8:26
almost as hard to put together as my bed frame was. Am I right
8:32
Let's dedicate number 25 to some bacronyms. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it refers
8:36
to a post hoc meaning applied to the letters of a name that's already been created. For
8:40
For example, SOS is famously thought to mean save our ship or save our souls, but in reality
8:46
it was chosen to be the international distress code simply for ease of use
8:50
TIME Magazine is sometimes said to stand for the International Magazine of Events, but when
8:55
it was founded, the name was chosen to emphasize brevity. Plus the International Magazine of Events magazine would be redundant and stupid
9:03
NERF is said to stand for non-expanding recreational foam, but Hasbro has never confirmed this and
9:09
seems to be more of a modern interpretation. Hasbro, incidentally, is an abbreviation for
9:14
the company's former name, Hasenfield Brothers. And to your FIFA-loving friend who claims
9:19
that Adidas stands for All Day I Dream About Soccer, let them down easy and tell them the
9:25
truth. It was named after its founder, Adi Dasler. there. How are you? Are you doing okay? Me either
education