"Why are you talking in that alphabet soup?"
The phrase "alphabet soup" is used to describe the situation where someone is talking using too many abbreviations. Also, there is a soup in the US called alphabet soup. In this soup, there are noodles shaped like the alphabets, a, b, c and so on all the way to z. Whenever one eats this soup, they would look into their spoon and invariably get a random assortment of letters. This is alphabet soup. Hence, the phrase "alphabet soup" is also used as an idiom to which refers to speaking using a lot of acronyms, making it hard for the listener to understand what you are talking about. If you are talking in alphabet soup, you should avoid that!
BBB - Better Business Bureau - A non-profit agency that protects consumers against bad business practices.
COD - Cash on Delivery - When something is ordered, you pay for it upon delivery.
FDIC - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - Banks accredited by the US government have this abbreviation, symbolized to the right.
ACT - A standardized test widely used for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States.
GMAT - Graduate Management Admission Test - Those wanting to study an MBA need to take this test.
GRE - Graduate Records Examination - A test taken for graduate college admissions.
SAT - A standardized test widely used for undergraduate college admissions in the United States.
AWOL - Absent Without Leave/Absent Without Official Leave - Though this is used for military duty, it also can be used to refer to a colleague who did not come into work, especially if no one knows where that colleague is.
MIA - Missing in Action - While this is an acronym referring to military professional, it is also used in the office in a similar way to AWOL. If a colleague hasn't turned up to work, and no one knows where he or she is then he or she is AWOL or MIA.
AA - Alcoholics Anonymous - This is a support group for recovering alcoholics.
AM/PM - Use AM after morning times and PM after afternoon times. Americans do not use the 24 hour/military clock, so using AM and PM is critical.
101 - Introductory. In US colleges the introductory classes or classes taken in the first year are numbered 101. So, Americans use the number 101 to refer to "the basics." For instance, this post could be called, "Abbreviations used in the US 101."
Jennifer Kumar is a consultant helping dispersed teams work and communicate more effectively with their US counterparts. For a strategy building session, contact Jennifer today.