Tracking RAS Syndrome with Google

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 00:38:13 -0700

I just read an email that says: I'm looking for a CMS system for work.

CMS, as you may or may not know, is an acronym for Content Management System. Presumably the person who wrote this email was not actually looking for a system of Content Management Systems (what a frightening concept), but rather just a CMS. I started to write a reply, but then I wondered if it wasn't already too late. I decided to investigate if CMS has already succumbed to RAS syndrome, which claimed such friendly acronyms as PIN number and ATM machine. It turns out RAS syndrome has even claimed JEB (John Ellis Bush) Bush! This may even call for an FBI investigation, but I'll do what I can as an average citizens concerned about RAS Syndrome.

The following is a comparison of Google results for acronyms in their redundant form, standard form, and the percent of redundancy:

PIN number	2,540,000	PIN	78,100,000	3.54% redundant
CMS system	2,540,000	CMS	78,300,000	3.24% redundant
ATM machine	751,000	ATM	35,700,000	2.10% redundant
HIV virus	1,260,000	HIV	119,000,000	1.06% redundant
RSS syndication	2,370,000	RSS	877,000,000	0.27% redundant
CSS style sheet	179,000	CSS	216,000,000	0.08% redundant
VIP person	8,890	VIP	32,200,000	0.03% redundant

Alas, it appears CMS system is too far along to save. It would be interesting to see a graph of these numbers as they change over time, and an acronym fades into redundancy. But probably only interesting to me.

Comment

typewriting tag: redundancy

Tracking RAS Syndrome with Google