Washington area girls soccer … and an unfortunate acronym
By: Ian Rose | May 1st, 2007So, I was wondering … I had just read the word “WAGs” for about the three gillionth time in a footballing article, and it got me wondering whether anyone took credit for inventing the term. So, like anyone in this, or nearly any other, situation, I googled it. Entering “WAGs” into the Google search engine had an unexpected result, however, as the first entry was not about Posh or any other famous wife or girlfriend … it read simply, “Washington Area Girls Soccer”. Oops. Now, I’m sure that WAGS (the organization) existed long before WAGs (the media term), but still – it’s not exactly the sort of uplifting, empowering name you want for a girls’ sports league. It got me thinking – I bet this sort of thing happens all the time. Having been called into service more than a few times to come up with acronyms for science projects to make long strings of words more palatable to the public, I realize that the acronym often has nothing to do with the project – it’s just a word that happens to both encompass the words you need it to encompass, and is easily pronounced. I wonder if this happens every time a new buzzword is invented, or a word’s meaning is changed irrevocably by a news story. I wonder how many organizations had the acronym OSAMA? (Oregon State Amateur Magic Association? It could happen.) I don’t know what this has to do with Real Salt Lake … I could make something up, but that would cheapen us both … I just think its interesting.
Oh, and the second entry is “Wisconsin Academy for Graduate Service Dogs”, who luckily took the now-valuable domain name wags.net off the market before it could become a breeding ground for Posh pics. Bless you, WAGSD.
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