November 28, 2003

I Love Acronyms!
Bob Praz

Acronyms, acronyms...in the modern internet generation of fandom, there are countless quantities of them. Lord of the Rings is no exception. Here are all those I can recall at the moment. Think of it as a “Guide to LOTR acronyms” if you wish. I will also mention “homonyms” of the various acronyms, so you don’t get confused when you see them in everyday places; particularly at work or at the office.

LOTR = Lord of the Rings (Note: the "OT" in many of these acronyms is not always in capital letters, as they do not represent main words; so LOTR or ROTK might become LotR and RotK)
JRRT = John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (at long last; his FULL name...hehe)
FOTR = Fellowship of the Ring
TTT = The Two Towers
ROTK = Return of the King
EE = Extended Edition
SE = Special Edition
DVD = Digital Video Disc / Digital Versatile Disc (ok, just kidding)
TORn = TheOneRing.net
PJ = Peter Jackson (also a term for pyjamas/pajamas)
EW = Elijah Wood (also stands for "Early Warning", "Electronic Warfare", and "East-West")
SIM = Sir Ian McKellen (also a short term for "simulation", or maybe even your brother’s name)
BB = Bill Boyd (or "ball bearing" for BB guns)
DM = Dominic Monaghan (or Data Manager, Data Management, Data Model, etc.)
VM = Viggo Mortensen (also stands for "Virtual Memory" and "Voice Mail")
(alright, maybe those last five acronyms don’t show up often, but they’re nonetheless useful when you’re in a real hurry)
RSWD = Round Spiked Wheelie Dealie (referring to the proposed Saruman death scene, although now we’ll unfortunately have to wait another year before we find out if it truly is real)
WOTR = War of the Ring
PotD = Paths of the Dead (less commonly used)
AotD = Army of the Dead (rarely used, although it should be)

Other MSN (or anything of the kind) acronyms that may show up sometimes are:
lol = laugh out loud
btw = by the way
gtg = got to go
(careful, these can be used very subtly in quick messages)

Now, I have a CONFESSION (and this is not an acronym):
I'm afraid I suffer from chronic EAMS (Excessive Acronym Madness Syndrome). I sometimes restrain myself, especially when thinking of weird acronyms that no one knows about, but in other cases I go out of my way to make them public. Example: YAH (Youth Against Homework), which includes subdivisions such as HTME (Hostile Takeover of the Ministry of Education), ROIST (Removal of Incompetent Science Teachers), and GOAGS (this one I will not risk defining on a web forum that can be easily accessed by anyone; including the FBI or, in my country, the dreaded RCMP). There are many, many more, but most are rather...um, politically incorrect. So at least you now know of my condition.

PS (Post-script): Join YAH!

PPS (Post-post-script): Including this last one, there are 30 different acronyms mentioned in this article (unless I forgot one). Some of the longest acronyms related to Lord of the Rings are LOTR: ROTK EE DVD or LOTR: FOTR SE DVD. Isn’t this great?