15 Everyday Words That Are Actually Acronyms or Abbreviations

The PIN in “PIN number” is an acronym that stands for “Personal Input Number,” so if you say “PIN number” you’re actually saying “Personal Input Number Number.” However, unfortunately, if you’re one of those people who leaps at the chance to point that out every time you can, you’re an A-hole — an abbreviation in which the A represents the word “ass.”

ATM machine is the same. Yeah, sometimes someone will refer to putting their PIN number into an ATM machine, and however infuriating it might be, you have to STFU.

Acronyms, in which the initial letters of a name or phrase form a shorter word, and abbreviations, in which a word or phrase is shortened, are all over the place, but a lot of them are so frequently used that it’s easy to not realize they’re shortened forms of something more chunky.

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.