President Trump with Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, center, and the Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos in 2017. Credit… Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. [Source: Kara Swisher, “The Epic Battle Between Trump and Bezos Is On,” NYTimes, 2-18-20]
Acronyms lend dignity and swagger to the entities or concepts they miniaturize. They attach like decals or tattoos to virtually every American institution, whether it be political, medical, corporate, military, legal, educationist or digital. It’s no accident that names are often created with a view to the acronyms they form, which makes them tendentious, forged shortcuts.
Take, for example, the ten-billion-dollar, ten-year, cloud computing project for the Defense Department called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project: JEDI.
I’ve tried to parse the name semantically with little certainty. “Joint” means “combined.” So the JEDI project is a project for:
(a) infrastructure whose purpose is to defend combined enterprises?
(b) infrastructure built by combined enterprises whose purpose is defense?
(c) infrastructure created for the benefit of both “enterprise” and the Defense Department?
(d) none of the above?
No matter. What’s important is that it spells JEDI, which has a sought-after vibe (unlike, say, SNAFU and CHAOS).
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
EthicalDative 
Acronymity
Acronyms lend dignity and swagger to the entities or concepts they miniaturize. They attach like decals or tattoos to virtually every American institution, whether it be political, medical, corporate, military, legal, educationist or digital. It’s no accident that names are often created with a view to the acronyms they form, which makes them tendentious, forged shortcuts.
Take, for example, the ten-billion-dollar, ten-year, cloud computing project for the Defense Department called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project: JEDI.
I’ve tried to parse the name semantically with little certainty. “Joint” means “combined.” So the JEDI project is a project for:
(a) infrastructure whose purpose is to defend combined enterprises?
(b) infrastructure built by combined enterprises whose purpose is defense?
(c) infrastructure created for the benefit of both “enterprise” and the Defense Department?
(d) none of the above?
No matter. What’s important is that it spells JEDI, which has a sought-after vibe (unlike, say, SNAFU and CHAOS).
(c) 2020 JMN
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About JMN
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.