INITIAL SHOCK

At a popular KTV bar in Makati, I made a song request which apparently was not on the menu.

- RICARDO T. PAMINTUAN

"WTF do you mean it's not there?" I asked, genuinely alarmed. How can one of the most popular songs in karaoke history not be there? Without Total Eclipse of the Heart, was it even karaoke? The day was saved by a staff member, who calmly tapped "T" then "E" on the touchscreen, and voilà - there it was.

How was I supposed to know they used initials in this place? I guess I should have; after all, it is a KTV.

Initialisms, as I discovered, are different from acronyms in the sense that the former are spelled out, like OMG, BRB, or TGIF, while the latter form new words, like LOL, YOLO, ASAP, or FOMO. Crossword favorites like "scuba" (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) and "laser" (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) are fine and witty examples of acronyms.

Governments and international organizations love this letter economy. They coin terms that roll off the tongue and stick in the brain: SONA, PAGCOR, MARINA, WHO, UNESCO. Some acronyms are so famous, people sometimes forget what they stand for: UNCLOS, NASA, NATO, ASEAN, APEC, UNICEF, OPEC, FIFA. They work especially well for branding - easy to say and remember, plus they save a lot of space on the side of a building.