I'm a BARF Forum Member, Thank You

Government loves acronyms. So do technologists. But sometimes people don't think through the name of their organization, contract or program -- until it's too late. Or maybe they do. I'm not so sure the folks over at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board were oblivious to what their group spelled out as an acronym. After all, their job is to "rat out" contractors or agencies that don't follow contracting rules for the economic stimulus program. Someone over there had a sense of humor.

Then there are those acronyms that just don't make any sense at all. Take the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, or DIMHRS, a.k.a. "Dime-ers." Why Dimers? What's a Dimer? Defense Secretary Robert Gates wondered , too. He said of the program after it was recently killed, "I would say that what we've gotten for a half billion dollars is an unpronounceable acronym." (The Defense Department actually spent $1 billion on the program, but that's a simple rounding error.)

Unfortunate acronyms crop up in the private sector, too. An item posted on ragan.com, a website operated by the Chicago-based public relations company Lawrence Ragan Communications Inc., lists some of their favorites. Here is a sample from the post that includes real organizations. I'll let you figure out what the acronym spells:

• The employee appraisal program called the Performance Management System
• Environmental Advisory Team and a Safety (and) Health Advisory Team
• The Storage Technology Division
• The Business and Research Finance forum

There are some racier examples, but I decided I wouldn't include them here because, well, I'm just not up for commenters expressing outrage and questioning my maturity. (Although I am sure one of those acronyms will surely offend.) But if your sense of humor runs in the gutter sometimes, please click on the above link and have a chuckle. And check out the comments at he bottom. More laughs.

Please leave your favorite government acronym in the comment section below.