Correction, May 3, 2004:This piece originally referred to KFC, TCBY, ESPN and YM as acronyms. Linguistic sticklers have since pointed out that these abbreviations are not, in fact, acronyms. An acronym is a pronounceable word that consists of the first initials or syllables of the words in another phrase—think PAC for "political action committee," or snafu for "situation normal all f----d up." Only if the chicken-eating public regularly pronounced the name KFC as "kuffick" could Slate safely term it an acronym. We stand corrected. Return to the first corrected instance.