Initialisms and Acronyms
The key difference between an acronym and an initialism is that an acronym forms a new word, while an initalism does not.
For example, you say “nay-toe” for NATO; this means you are saying a word, as opposed to saying each letter (ehn-ay-tee-oh). So “NATO” is an acronym. But “MRT” is an initialism for Mass Rapid Transit: you say each letter individually (you don’t say “mert”, so you know it’s not a word).
List of Popular Singaporean Initialisms
(with creative meanings)
| ICA | Immigration & Checkpoints Authority | I Chope Already |
| COE | Cetificate of Entitlement | Cash On Expressway or worse, “Si hor yi” (give them after death) |
| CPF | Central Provident Fund | Cash Prior to Funeral or Coffin Provision Fund |
| DBS | Development Bank of Singapore | Damn! Boh Salary |
| EDB | Economic Development Board | Enough, Don’t Bluff |
| ERP | Electronic Road Pricing | Everytime Raise Price or Everyday Rob People (contributed by Judhi) |
| GST | Goods and Services Tax | Government Salary Tax or Go Squeeze Them |
| HDB | Housing Development Board | Highly Dangerous Building |
| LTA | Land Transport Authority | Long Tio Ah (crash!) |
| MAS | Monetary Authority of Singapore | Mad Accounting System/ Must Always Suffer |
| MOE | Ministry of Environment | Muggers Only Environment |
| MRT | Mass Rapid Transit | Mad Rush to Train |
| NTU | Nanyang Technological University | Ninja Turtle University |
| NUH | National University Hospital | Never Use Heart |
| NUS | National University of Singapore | Never Use Sense/ Not Up to Standard/ Nothing Up Stairs |
| NUSSU | NUS Student Union | No Use, So Screw Up |
| OCBC | Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation | Owe Cash, Boh Credit |
| OUB | Overseas Union Bank | Owe Until Bankrupt |
| PAP | People’s Action Party | Pay And Pay |
| POSB | Post Office Savings Bank | Purposely Owe Some Banks |
| PSA | Port of Singapore Authority | Poor Ships Ahead |
| PSI | Pollution Safety Index | Please Stay Indoors |
| PUB | Public Utilities Board | Pay Until Broke |
| PWD | Public Works Department | Purposely Want to Dig |
| SAF | Singapore Armed Forces | Serve And Forget |
| SBS | Singapore Bus Service | Super Blur Sotong/ Screwed-up and Bad Service |
| SDU | Social Development Unit | Single, Desperate and Ugly/ Sexually Depressed and Unwanted |
| SGH | Singapore General Hospital | Sure Giveup Hope |
| SIA | Singapore International Airlines | Suffer In Agony or Sex In Air |
| SMRT | Singapore Mass Rapid Transit | Sorry Must Repair Train |
| UOB | United Overseas Bank | You Owe Bank |
From talkingcock.com website
