RAS syndrome

English lexicography PIN number – personal identification number HIV virus – human immunodeficiency virus ATM machine – automated teller machine LCD display – liquid crystal display Etymology en New Scientist New Scientist 2001 science magazine 1.2001-05-07 w:New Scientist Feedback https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17022858.000 https://web.archive.org/web/20160309043644/http://newscientist.com/article/mg17022858-000-feedback/ 2021-06-23 A couple of weeks ago we reported on Microsoft’s “NT technology”, which we wrongly assumed meant “New Technology technology”. Our thanks to reader Iain Broadfoot, who points out that it actually means “Northern Telecom technology”, after the people who originally developed it. But that hasn’t stopped reader Ernest Ager sending a string of examples of that must henceforth be known as RAS syndrome—where “RAS” stands for “redundant acronym…”—yes, you’ve guessed the rest. Noun - en lexicography humorous Redundant acronym syndrome syndrome, a tautology in which one or more words that make up an acronym or initialism are used redundantly in conjunction with said abbreviation. See also en Department of Redundancy Department en pleonasm en recursive acronym References en autological terms pleonastic compound nouns