A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia

ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC is the longest acronym in the 1965 edition of the Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Dictionary. It is a Navy term standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command [Dickson]. Another acronym, PUMCODOXPURSACOMLOPAR, stands for "pulse-modulated coherent Doppler-effect X-band pulse-repetition synthetic-array pulse compression lobe planar array" (from Willard Espy). COMSUBCOMNELMCOMHEDSUPPACT (26 letters) stands for Commander, Subordinate Command, U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, Commander Headquarters Support Activities.

However, the world's longest acronym according to the Guinness Book of Words is NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT (56 letters, 54 in Cyrillic). Found in the Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology, it means: The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite-monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR. ...more word oddities and trivia.