34 words that are actually acronyms

Acronyms are abbreviations that can be pronounced as words. NATO is a perfect example. UN however is never pronounced as “UN” so it remains an abbreviation.

(Navy) SEAL – SEa, Air, Land
3M – Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
AGA (stove) – Aktiebolaget Gasaccumulator (Swedish)
BASE (jumping) – Building, Antenna, Span, or Earth
BMW – Bavarian Motor Works (Bayerische Motoren Werke)
CANOLA (oil) – CANada Oil, Low Acid
CAPTCHA -Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart
CARE (package) – Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe
CD-ROM – Compact Disc Read-Only
E-FIT – Electronic Facial Identification Technique
EPCOT – Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow
GESTAPO – Geheime Staatspolizei (German)
GIF – Graphics Interchange Format
H & M – Hennes & Mauritz
HUMVEE (HMMWV) – High-mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle
IKEA – Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd
LASER – Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
M & Ms – Mars & Murries
NABISCO (biscuits) – NAtional BIScuit Company
NERF – Non Expandable Recreational Foam
PAKISTAN – Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and BaluchisAN
RADAR – RAdio Direction/Detection and Ranging
SCUBA – Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
SIM (card) – Subscriber Identification Module
SMART (car) – Swatch Mercedes ART
SNAFU – Situation Normal, All Fucked Up
SONAR – Sound Navigation and Ranging
SOS – does not stand for anything.
SOWETO – South Western TOwnships
SPAM – Special Processed American Meat or Shoulder of Pork and Ham
TASER – Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle
TIME (magazine) – The International Magazine of Events
YAHOO – Yet Another Hierarchical Official Oracle
ZIP (code) – Zone Improvement Plan