College of Letters

Have you noticed how many times these days our sentences are swirling in acronyms?  What happened to speaking in real words instead of a series of letters?  I work in an industry that is fraught with complex terms that are often reduced to their essence in acronyms -- not too unusual in most industries today.  People in my workplace can be heard including numerous acronyms in one sentence with great ease and there is common understanding by all involved.  What makes it more complicated for me, however, is that as I move in and outside of my work setting, I discover that different groups use the same acronyms but the letters stand for different words and have distinctly different meanings.  I'll never forget my first meeting after making the leap from tourism public relations to health care.  Everyone was talking about WHA.  In my previous world, WHA stood for the call letters of the local public television station.  As the discussion proceeded, I became more and more confused, for there was nothing talked about that seemed to match up with the WHA I knew.  Fortunately, someone kindly explained to me that it stood for the Wisconsin Hospital Association.  I now proceed with more caution when using or attempting to understand acronyms.  I'm more willing to ask for clarification.  Call me old fashioned, but I really like real words.