Eurojargon: A Dictionary of European Union Acronyms, Abbreviations and Sobriquets

If you thought librarians were among the most prolific coiners of abbreviations and acronyms, you should see the output of the European Union (EU). There are two obvious reasons why it needs so many. First, it gives rise to a great many organizations or projects with complex names, so it is much easier to speak of “IRIS” than of “The integrated road safety information and navigation system”. Second, with nine official languages, and more to come, it does make sense to invent a single easily memorable name which can be used in all languages ‐ although many acronyms do, in...