NCPO, DSI, CDC, WTF?
At Coconuts we avoid spilling alphabet soup all over your interscreens despite – or because of – the ever-expanding amount of them. They also tend to be another means of obfuscation to confuse the public, and one doesn’t have to be arrested for reading Orwell to understand the fight over words and language.
Were the anti-government protesters aligned with the “People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC),” as it was rendered in English for an international audience? Or were they really members of what was in Thai the “People′s Committee for Absolute Democracy With the King As Head of State (PCAD),” a point argued by the folks at Khaosod English?
We stuck with “anti-government protesters.” After all, the holy book of newswriting, the AP Stylebook, admonishes reporters to “avoid alphabet soup. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize.”
But no self-respecting newswriters would ever debase themselves to consult the style guide, or so it would seem from headlines such as “NCPO prods NLA to nominate VIPs to CDC.”
You read these every day, how many do you know? Test yourself with our survey below! No cheating! Okay fine, if this quiz is important to your self-esteem, then Google away! After all, the prize for getting them all correct is: nothing!
We’ll publish the results in a couple days.
Photo: Stéphanie Crombé
