RAS Syndrome: Do You Have It?

Are you familiar with RAS syndrome? Have you ever, even just once, said “… ATM machine”? How about “… PIN number”? If you have, sorry to say that you’re plagued by RAS syndrome. But don't worry; it's not fatal. Contagious—maybe...

RAS (Redundant Acronym Syndrome) syndrome is the repetition of one or more word that make up an acronym or initialism and using them together with the abbreviated form. The most common acronyms that are often said wrong are ATM and PIN. ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine and PIN stands for Personal Identification Number. Repeating the last word is wrong however much doing so sounds right to you unless, of course, you are referring to a machine that makes ATMs, which would not make sense whatsoever, or to the number of your PIN. Do you have many PINs? Are they numbered? If so, by all means, continue using “PIN number.”

There are several RAS words. Some of them are quite common and we often encounter them in our readings. Some are not quite so and are only used in specific applications. Here are some of them.

(ATM) Automated Teller Machine – ATM machine

(PIN) Personal Identification Number – PIN number

(HIV) Human Immunodeficiency Virus – HIV virus

(AIDS) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome – AIDS syndrome

(UPC) Universal Product Code – UPC code

(ISBN) International Standard Book Number – ISBN number

(LCD) Liquid Crystal Display – LCD display

(SAT) Scholastic Assessment (or Aptitude) Test – SAT test

(DOS) Disk Operating System– DOS operating system

(HTML) Hypertext Markup Language – HTML language

(LAN) Local Area Network – LAN network

(RSVP) Répondez S'il Vous Plaît – Please RSVP (lit. Please respond please)

(RAM) Random-Access Memory – RAM memory

(PC) Personal Computer – PC computer