Acronyms in Your Rearview Mirror May Be More Awkward Than They Seem

It’s a little known fact that the US Congress loves acronyms. Or maybe it’s a well known fact, what with ARRA, TARP, etc. When I was working on the hill, we were dealing with the CHIMP Act (Chimpanzee Health Improvement Maintenance and Protection), which set up a retirement system for lab primates.

Anyway, the CARS bill that I mentioned a while back is being signed into law. Interestingly, there’s a change in the content of the acronym:

Inslee was one of nearly 50 cosponsors on the House bill, which abandoned the name “Cash for Clunkers” in favor of the simpler “CARS,” which stands for “Consumer Assists to Recycle and Save.” The federal program will carry the same acronym, but will be known as the Car Allowance Rebate System.

All sorts of interesting things about the bill (like whether it will work and whether it will help the environment and/or the auto industry), but I’ll leave that for another time.  This post is more of a grammar discussion.  Class dismissed!