Embarrassing Acronym

Acronyms abound in my line of work. So much so that we don't smirk but often groan when someone mentions the self-referential initialism TLA. These abbreviations are meant to make conversation easier to conduct by creating nouns [1] from long phrases. Often, however, their brevity does not compensate for the obfuscation they create [2]. Once in a while, an abbreviation can cross the border from the annoying to the embarrassing. 

On a recent project, my colleague Steven "Doc" List spotted the humor (perhaps unintended) in a project named "BO Cleansing". BO stood for Business Objects, not Body Odor. 

Of course, most people would catch deeply embarrassing or offensive accidental acronyms before they become an Internet joke like [WARNING: strong language in linked document] this one. However, the occasional slip in allowing an inadvertently funny acronym may be enough to make a mockery out of an otherwise serious subject. 

Here are a few embarrassing acronyms (or similar) I've run across in my career:

• The IBM Websphere Application Server stores some authentication information in a file named WebAS by default. On more than one project, I've heard hushed references to this file as "the Web with the big AS"
• Borland's C++ Builder had files of type Project Description Language, with the extension PDL − which some some people pronounced as "pedal". If you said "I need a PDL file" quickly, you were bound to get a few giggles and few "ahems". 
• In many demo projects, the names "fubar" and "snafu" are considered par for the course − until you run into a situation where you have to expand these acronyms into their full phrases.

I have no problem with injecting some levity into everyday work and an apt (or even funny) acronym is a good way of doing that. However, the case of the accidentally embarrassing acronym is quite a different story. 

[1] Or verbs: I have been told that "TDD-ed" is the past/past participle and "TDD-ing" is the present participle of TDD.

[2] I've heard people say (and write!) "ETL the OSB data from GAPROD to TSPROD"