`  == Acronyms that no longer stand for anything ==  How does one call them? Examples are AOL (formerly America Online), SOAP (formerly Simple Object Access Protocol) and VLC (formerly VideoLAN Client). -   :The Pseudo-acronym article asserts these should be called ``orphan acronyms``, but the sourcing is pretty weak and smacks of original research. — |  ::They supposed to be called obsolete acronyms  :::Source? — |  :Isn't this (at least partly) covered under Usage, Case in the para starting ``Some acronyms undergo assimilation into ordinary words...``?  :Interesting question.  I worked for a company (acquired by GE a little over a year ago)named IDX  It was hard to explain to customers and others that IDX was not an acronym for anything.  This may be a one-time situtation, but I wonder if there are other ``pseudo acronyms`` or ``false acronyms.``   ::How about ISO?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by      SAT stands for Scholastic Aptitude Test.  ISO uses its name in full on all standards it publishes.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by      :: ISO is not, and never has been, an acronym.  The two official languages of ISO are English and French, in which its full names are the International Organization for Standardization and l'Organisation internationale de normalisation.  If it were an acronym, English-speakers would callit IOS and French-speakers OIN.      :Who invented the appalling ``word`` - if it can be called that - ``initialism``?  They should be shot at dawn, figuratively, of course.   :: It used to be better explained in the article—I'm not seeing it now upon quick skimming. The word has existed since 1895, as I recall the year cited earlier. It predated the coining of the word ``acronym`` by 2 decades. It is often used to make a distinction between abbrevs pronounced as a string of initials versus abbrevs pronounced as a word. So it's not as hideous or neologous as you might imagine! —    == fictional espionage organizations ==  There's really no reason that this much of this article should be taken up with a list of fictional espionage organization. This seems to be screaming for its own article.  Objections? — •   :I've been thinking exactly the same thing.  Create an article Fictional espionage organizations, move the big list there, and add just a note here, e.g., ``The names of fictional espionage organizations are often acronyms or backronyms.``  — |   ::Sounds good. I'll split that article out now.  •   :::Update: For interested readers, FYI: The spun-off article is now called List of fictional espionage organizations.    == External links ==  On 21:16, 2 May 2007, I deleted the External Links section.  On 04:36, 5 May 2007, somebody at IP address  added them back in.  So I guess there's some disagreement.  •  Here's why I think the EL section s