RAS syndrome stands for
redundant acronym syndrome syndrome and refers to the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating one or more words. Usage commentators consider such redundant acronyms poor style and an error to be avoided in writing, though they are common in speech.
The term "RAS syndrome" is itself a redundant acronym, and thus is an example of
self-referential humorSelf-referential humor is a type of humor in which a comical statement or action , often directed at or intended for something else, in effect applies to itself...
.
The term "RAS syndrome" was coined in 2001 by the
New ScientistNew Scientist is a weekly international science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier. New Scientist has maintained a...
magazine.
The similar term "PNS syndrome" (which expands to "
PIN
number
syndrome syndrome," and further to "
personal
identification
number number syndrome syndrome") was coined by
UsenetUsenet, a portmanteau of "user" and "network" , is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It evolved from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name....
users, and in fact pre-dates the coining of "RAS Syndrome".
Other
nonceA nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was a nonce word in English appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake until Murray Gell-Mann quoted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
coinages continue to arise.
Discussion
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RAS syndrome stands for
redundant acronym syndrome syndrome and refers to the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating one or more words. Usage commentators consider such redundant acronyms poor style and an error to be avoided in writing, though they are common in speech.
The term "RAS syndrome" is itself a redundant acronym, and thus is an example of
self-referential humorSelf-referential humor is a type of humor in which a comical statement or action , often directed at or intended for something else, in effect applies to itself...
.
Origin
The term "RAS syndrome" was coined in 2001 by the
New ScientistNew Scientist is a weekly international science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier. New Scientist has maintained a...
magazine.
The similar term "PNS syndrome" (which expands to "
PIN
number
syndrome syndrome," and further to "
personal
identification
number number syndrome syndrome") was coined by
UsenetUsenet, a portmanteau of "user" and "network" , is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It evolved from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name....
users, and in fact pre-dates the coining of "RAS Syndrome".
Examples
Other
nonceA nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was a nonce word in English appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake until Murray Gell-Mann quoted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
coinages continue to arise. The terms themselves are occasionally referred to as "RAP phrases" ("
redundant
acronym
phrases phrases").
Select examples of RAP phrases include:
- ATM
An automated teller machine is a computerized telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a human clerk or bank teller...
machine (automated teller machine machine)
- CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
style sheets (cascading style sheets style sheets)
- HIV virus (human immunodeficiency virus virus)
- ISBN number (international standard book number number)
- PIN
A personal identification number is a secret numeric password shared between a user and a system that can be used to authenticate the user to the system. Typically, the user is required to provide a non-confidential user identifier or token and a confidential PIN to gain access to the system...
number (personal identification number number)
- UPC
The Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology , that is widely used in Canada and the United States for tracking trade items in stores.- Current code :...
code (Universal Product Code code)
Reasons for use
There are several linguistic explanations for the prevalence of RAS syndrome:
- A limited amount of redundancy can improve (or seem to the speaker to improve) the effectiveness of communication (the pure-logic ideal of zero redundancy is seldom maintained in human languages). A phonetic example of that principle is the need for spelling alphabet
A spelling alphabet, radio alphabet, or telephone alphabet is a set of words which are used to stand for the letters of an alphabet. Each word in the spelling alphabet typically replaces the name of the letter with which it starts...
s in radiotelephony. Some instances of RAS syndrome can be viewed as syntactic examples of the principle. The speaker wishes to gently reinforce the meaning of an acronym or initialism, especially in pedagogicalPedagogy is the study of being a teacher. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction.Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies . For example, Paulo Freire referred to his method of teaching adults as "critical pedagogy"...
contexts (whether formal or informal). In such cases, the redundancy may help the listener by providing context and decreasing the 'alphabet-soup' quality of the communication.
- Acronyms and initialisms from foreign languages are often treated as unanalyzed nouns when they are not translated. For example, in French, "le protocole IP" (the Internet protocol protocol) is often used, while in English "please RSVP
RSVP may refer to:* "Répondez s'il vous plaît", a French phrase that translates to "please respond"...
" (roughly "please respond please") provides a redundant example of a French initialism.
- The principle of not analyzing also applies within one language. For example, people who work regularly with the term AC (referring to alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. An electric charge would for instance move forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, over and over again...
) experience some degree of treating the word both in sound (/eɪsiː/) and in appearance as an unanalyzed lexeme. They do not forget what its expanded form is, but neither do their brains shift to the expanded form without a cue. Thus the redundancy in phrases such as "ATM machine" can be likened to that in "pine tree", "red in color", or "pizza pie". It is a degree of redundancy born of treating objects (in the abstract philosophicalIn philosophy, an object is a thing, an entity, or a being. This may be taken in several senses. In its weakest sense, the word "object" is the most all-purpose of nouns, and can replace a noun in any sentence at all...
or computingIn computer science, an object, in the domain of object-oriented programming, usually means a compilation of attributes and behaviors encapsulating an entity....
senses of that word) as black boxA black box is a device, object, or system whose inner workings are unknown; only the input, transfer, and output are known characteristics.The term black box can also refer to:-In science and technology:*Black box theory, a philosophical theory...
es to be strung together, which is a natural aspect of human cognition.
Less applicable examples
Sometimes the presence of repeated words does not create a redundant phrase. For example, a "redundant
RAIDRAID is an acronym first defined by David A. Patterson, Garth A. Gibson, and Randy Katz at the University of California, Berkeley in 1987 to describe a redundant array of inexpensive disks, a technology that allowed computer users to achieve high levels of storage reliability from low-cost and less...
(
redundant
array of
inexpensive/
independent
disks)" may in fact be a backup RAID in the system being described, "
laserA laser is a device that emits light through a process called stimulated emission. Laser light is usually spatially coherent, which means that the light either is emitted in a narrow, low-divergence beam, or can be converted into one with the help of optical components such as lenses...
(
light
amplification by
stimulated
emission of
radiation) light" is light produced by a light amplification process, and "
SMS- Companies and organizations :* Sabooj Maroon Swapna , a fan club of Mohun Bagan AC in Kolkata, India* Southdown Motor Services, a former UK bus company* Youth Party of Slovenia, a Slovenian political party...
(
short
message/
silent
messaging
service) message" is a message transmitted by a message service. In general, when the repeated word is used as a different part of speech RAS syndrome does not apply.