Mr. Musk does not like acronyms either. One of his companies builds spaceships, successfully. I think the answer of using acronyms is there: “The key test for acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication.”
I am not suggesting acronym moderator for euroga 
Also, we are confounding acronyms and mnemonics. They are not the same thing, and have very different purposes.
TDODAR is a mnemonic not an acronym. LVDT, to take a random example, is an acronym. But who on earth would use the latter without explanation? 
LVDT, to take a random example, is an acronym. But who on earth would use the latter without explanation?
Hmmm… a good point. I used it in the very narrow and specialised avionics/electronics context. Also it does google instantly to only one thing.
I think the point is that some slack needs to be cut. I am sure that we all want to be best understood by the largest readership with minimum effort on the readers’ part, but that it is not always easy to remember, or totally obvious what requires explanation. It will always be subjective.
Musk suddenly became my hero His subject line is nice, especially for acronym junkies, which I’m sure was the intention also.
One of the more stupid acronyms is the favorite aviation solvent, MEK. It is an acronym for “Methyl Ethyl Ketone”. In the chemical industry, where it comes from, it is called Butanone or 2-Butanone/Butan-2-one. Anyway, the point is, there is no such thing as Methyl Ethyl Ketone. Naming it like that, it would correctly be Ethyl Methyl Ketone, or rather Ethylmethylketone in one word. In any case, the correct acronym would be EMK, not MEK.
My favourite silly acronym is WWW. The words “World Wide Web” are three syllables, the acronym, in English, is nine. (Here the Germans do have one over us )
@Timothy (on Victorians)
The line has to drawn somewhere. For me, it’s split infinitives! I think the Victorians were into this partly for the sake of preserving class distinctions. When you hear one one of the mistakes you just listed, don’t you make an assumption about the educational level and class background of the person speaking (assuming it is a native speaker)?
As to acronyms/abbreviations, I faithfully follow rule laid down by Peter that airports must be identified BOTH by name and ICAO identifier. A great rule!
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
When you hear one one of the mistakes you just listed, don’t you make an assumption about the educational level and class background of the person speaking (assuming it is a native speaker)
Well, unless my highly intelligent and expensively educated children slipped down the social scale when they became professional musicians, I have to accept that it’s their age.
For those averse to strong language avoid the link
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_slang_terms
