title: Acronym

text: When a multiple-letter abbreviation is formed from a single word, periods are in general not used, although they may be common in informal usage. "TV", for example, may stand for a "single" word ("television" or "transvestite", for instance), and is in general spelled without punctuation (except in the plural). Although "PS" stands for the single word "postscript" (or the Latin "postscriptum"), it is often spelled with periods ("P.S.").


title: Acronym

text: The slash ('/', or "solidus") is sometimes used to separate the letters in an acronym, as in "N/A" ("not applicable, not available") and "c/o" ("care of").


title: Acronym

text: Inconveniently long words used frequently in related contexts can be represented according to their letter count as a numeronym. For example, "i18n" abbreviates "internationalization", a computer-science term for adapting software for worldwide use. The "18" represents the 18 letters that come between the first and the last in "internationalization". "Localization" can be abbreviated "l10n", "multilingualization" "m17n", and "accessibility" "a11y". In addition to the use of a specific number replacing that many letters, the more general "x" can be used to replace an unspecified number of letters. Examples include "Crxn" for "crystallization" and the series familiar to physicians for history, diagnosis, and treatment ("hx", "dx", "tx").


title: Acronym

text: There is a question about how to pluralize acronyms. Often a writer will add an 's' following an apostrophe, as in "PC's". However, Kate Turabian, writing about style in academic writings, allows for an apostrophe to form plural acronyms "only when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters". Turabian would therefore prefer "DVDs" and "URLs" and "Ph.D.'s". The Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association prohibit apostrophes from being used to pluralize acronyms regardless of periods (so "compact discs" would be "CDs" or "C.D.s"), whereas "The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage" requires an apostrophe when pluralizing all abbreviations regardless of periods (preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's").


title: Acronym

text: Possessive plurals that also include apostrophes for mere pluralization and periods appear especially complex: for example, "the C.D.'s' labels" (the labels of the compact discs). In some instances, however, an apostrophe may increase clarity: for example, if the final letter of an abbreviation is "S", as in "SOS's" (although abbreviations ending with S can also take "-es", e.g. "SOSes"), or when pluralizing an abbreviation that has periods.


title: Acronym

text: A particularly rich source of options arises when the plural of an acronym would normally be indicated in a word other than the final word if spelled out in full. A classic example is "Member of Parliament", which in plural is "Members of Parliament". It is possible then to abbreviate this as "M's P". (or similar), as used by former Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley. This usage is less common than forms with "s" at the end, such as "MPs", and may appear dated or pedantic. In common usage, therefore, "weapons of mass destruction" becomes "WMDs", "prisoners of war" becomes "POWs", and "runs batted in" becomes "RBIs".


title: Acronym

text: The argument that acronyms should have no different plural form (for example, "If "D" can stand for "disc", it can also stand for "discs"") is in general disregarded because of the practicality in distinguishing singulars and plurals. This is not the case, however, when the abbreviation is understood to describe a plural noun already: For example, "U.S." is short for "United States", but not "United State". In this case, the options for making a possessive form of an abbreviation that is already in its plural form without a final "s" may seem awkward: for example, "U.S.", "U.S.'s", etc. In such instances, possessive abbreviations are often forgone in favor of simple attributive usage (for example, "the U.S. economy") or expanding the abbreviation to its full form and "then" making the possessive (for example, "the United States' economy"). On the other hand, in speech, the pronunciation "United States's" is sometimes used.


title: Acronym

text: Abbreviations that come from single, rather than multiple, words – such as "TV" ("television") – are usually pluralized without apostrophes ("two TVs"); most writers feel that the apostrophe should be reserved for the possessive ("the TV's antenna").


title: Acronym

text: The most common capitalization scheme seen with acronyms is all-uppercase (all caps), except for those few that have linguistically taken on an identity as regular words, with the acronymous etymology of the words fading into the background of common knowledge, such as has occurred with the words "scuba", "laser", and "radar": these are known as "anacronyms". Anacronyms (note well "-acro-") should not be homophonously confused with anachronyms (note well "-chron-"), which are a type of misnomer.


title: Acronym

text: Small caps are sometimes used to make the run of capital letters seem less jarring to the reader. For example, the style of some American publications, including the "Atlantic Monthly" and "USA Today", is to use small caps for acronyms longer than three letters; thus "U.S." and "FDR" in normal caps, but "" in small caps. The acronyms "AD" and "BC" are often smallcapped as well, as in: "From ".


title: Acronym

text: Words derived from an acronym by affixing are typically expressed in mixed case, so the root acronym is clear. For example, "pre-WWII politics", "post-NATO world", "DNase". In some cases a derived acronym may also be expressed in mixed case. For example, "messenger RNA" and "transfer RNA" become "mRNA" and "tRNA".


title: Acronym

text: Some publications choose to capitalize only the first letter of acronyms, reserving all-caps styling for initialisms, writing the pronounced acronyms "Nato" and "Aids" in mixed case, but the initialisms "USA" and "FBI" in all caps. For example, this is the style used in "The Guardian", and BBC News typically edits to this style (though its official style guide, dating from 2003, still recommends all-caps). The logic of this style is that the pronunciation is reflected graphically by the capitalization scheme. However, it conflicts with conventional English usage of first-letter upper-casing as a marker of proper names in many cases; e.g. "AIDS" stands for "acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome" which is not a proper name, while "Aids" is in the style of one.


title: Acronym

text: Some style manuals also base the letters' case on their number. "The New York Times", for example, keeps "NATO" in all capitals (while several guides in the British press may render it "Nato"), but uses lower case in "Unicef" (from "United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund") because it is more than four letters, and to style it in caps might look ungainly (flirting with the appearance of "shouting capitals").


title: Acronym

text: While abbreviations typically exclude the initials of short function words (such as "and", "or", "of", or "to"), this is not always the case. Sometimes function words are included to make a pronounceable acronym, such as CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). Sometimes the letters representing these words are written in lower case, such as in the cases of "TfL" ("Transport for London") and "LotR" ("The Lord of the Rings"); this usually occurs when the acronym represents a multi-word proper noun.


title: Acronym

text: Numbers (both cardinal and ordinal) in names are often represented by digits rather than initial letters, as in "4GL" ("fourth generation language") or "G77" ("Group of 77"). Large numbers may use metric prefixes, as with "Y2K" for "Year 2000" (sometimes written "Y2k", because the SI symbol for 1000 is "k", not "K", which stands for "kelvin", the SI unit for temperature). Exceptions using initials for numbers include "TLA" ("three-letter acronym/abbreviation") and "GoF" ("Gang of Four"). Abbreviations using numbers for other purposes include repetitions, such as "A2DP" ("Advanced Audio Distribution Profile"), "W3C" ("World Wide Web Consortium"), and "T3" ("Trends, Tips & Tools for Everyday Living"); pronunciation, such as "B2B" ("business to business"); and numeronyms, such as "i18n" ("internationalization"; "18" represents the 18 letters between the initial "i" and the final "n").


title: Acronym

text: Authors of expository writing will sometimes capitalize or otherwise distinctively format the initials of the expansion for pedagogical emphasis (for example, writing: "the onset of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)" or "the onset of congestive heart failure (CHF)"), but this conflicts with the convention of English orthography, which reserves capitals in the middle of sentences for proper nouns; and would be rendered as "the onset of congestive heart failure (CHF)" when following the AMA Manual of Style.


title: Acronym

text: Some apparent acronyms or other abbreviations do not stand for anything and cannot be expanded to some meaning. Such pseudo-acronyms may be pronunciation-based, such as "BBQ" ("bee-bee-cue"), for "barbecue", or "K9" ("kay-nine") for "canine". Pseudo-acronyms also frequently develop as "orphan initialisms"; an existing acronym is redefined as a non-acronymous name, severing its link to its previous meaning. For example, the letters of the "SAT", a US college entrance test originally dubbed "Scholastic Aptitude Test", no longer officially stand for anything. The US-based abortion-rights organization "NARAL" is another example of this; in that case, the organization changed their name three times, with the long-form of the name always corresponding to the letters "NARAL", before eventually opting to simply be known by the short-form, without being connected to a long-form.


title: Acronym

text: This is common with companies that want to retain brand recognition while moving away from an outdated image: American Telephone and Telegraph became AT&T, "Kentucky Fried Chicken" became "KFC" to de-emphasize the role of frying in the preparation of its signature dishes, and British Petroleum became BP. "Russia Today" has rebranded itself as "RT". American Movie Classics has simply rebranded itself as AMC. Genzyme Transgenics Corporation became GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc.; The Learning Channel became TLC; and American District Telegraph became simply known as ADT.


title: Acronym

text: Pseudo-acronyms may have advantages in international markets: for example, some national affiliates of International Business Machines are legally incorporated with "IBM" in their names (for example, IBM Canada) to avoid translating the full name into local languages. Likewise, UBS is the name of the merged Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation, and HSBC has replaced the long name Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Some companies which have a name giving a clear indication of their place of origin will choose to use acronyms when expanding to foreign markets: for example, Toronto-Dominion Bank continues to operate under the full name in Canada, but its U.S. subsidiary is known as TD Bank, just as Royal Bank of Canada used its full name in Canada (a constitutional monarchy), but its now-defunct U.S. subsidiary was called RBC Bank. The India-based JSW Group of companies is another example of the original name (Jindal South West Group) being re-branded into a pseudo-acronym while expanding into other geographical areas in and outside of India.


title: Acronym

text: Rebranding can lead to redundant acronym syndrome, as when Trustee Savings Bank became TSB Bank, or when Railway Express Agency became REA Express. A few high-tech companies have taken the redundant acronym to the extreme: for example, ISM Information Systems Management Corp. and SHL Systemhouse Ltd. Examples in entertainment include the television shows "" and "Navy: NCIS" ("Navy" was dropped in the second season), where the redundancy was likely designed to educate new viewers as to what the initials stood for. The same reasoning was in evidence when the Royal Bank of Canada's Canadian operations rebranded to RBC Royal Bank, or when Bank of Montreal rebranded their retail banking subsidiary BMO Bank of Montreal.


title: Acronym

text: Another common example is "RAM memory", which is redundant because "RAM" ("random-access memory") includes the initial of the word "memory". "PIN" stands for "personal identification number", obviating the second word in "PIN number"; in this case its retention may be motivated to avoid ambiguity with the homophonous word "pin". Other examples include "ATM machine", "EAB bank", "HIV virus", Microsoft's NT Technology, and the formerly redundant "SAT test", now simply "SAT Reasoning Test"). TNN (The Nashville/National Network) also renamed itself "The New TNN" for a brief interlude.


title: Acronym

text: In some cases, while the initials in an acronym may stay the same, for what those letters stand may change. Examples include the following:


title: Acronym

text: A "backronym" (or "bacronym") is a phrase that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word. For example, the novelist and critic Anthony Burgess once proposed that the word "book" ought to stand for "box of organized knowledge". A classic real-world example of this is the name of the predecessor to the Apple Macintosh, the Apple Lisa, which was said to refer to "Local Integrated Software Architecture", but was actually named after Steve Jobs's daughter, born in 1978.


title: Acronym

text: Backronyms are oftentimes used for comedic effect. An example of creating a backronym for comedic effect would be in naming a group or organization, the name "A.C.R.O.N.Y.M" stands for (among other things) "a clever regiment of nerdy young men".


title: Acronym

text: Acronyms are sometimes contrived, that is, deliberately designed to be especially apt for the thing being named (by having a dual meaning or by borrowing the positive connotations of an existing word). Some examples of contrived acronyms are "USA PATRIOT", "CAN SPAM", "CAPTCHA" and "ACT UP". The clothing company French Connection began referring to itself as "fcuk", standing for "French Connection United Kingdom". The company then created T-shirts and several advertising campaigns that exploit the acronym's similarity to the taboo word "fuck".


title: Acronym

text: The US Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is known for developing contrived acronyms to name projects, including "RESURRECT", "NIRVANA", and "DUDE". In July 2010, "Wired" magazine reported that DARPA announced programs to "... transform biology from a descriptive to a predictive field of science" named "BATMAN" and "ROBIN" for "Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature" and "Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks", a reference to the Batman and Robin comic-book superheroes.


title: Acronym

text: The short-form names of clinical trials and other scientific studies constitute a large class of acronyms that includes many contrived examples, as well as many with a partial rather than complete correspondence of letters to expansion components. These trials tend to have full names that are accurately descriptive of what the trial is about but are thus also too long to serve practically as names within the syntax of a sentence, so a short name is also developed, which can serve as a syntactically useful handle and also provide at least a degree of mnemonic reminder as to the full name. Examples widely known in medicine include the ALLHAT trial (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial) and the CHARM trial (Candesartan in Heart Failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity). The fact that RAS syndrome is often involved, as well as that the letters often don't entirely match, have sometimes been pointed out by annoyed researchers preoccupied by the idea that because the archetypal form of acronyms originated with one-to-one letter matching, there must be some impropriety in their ever deviating from that form. However, the raison d'être of clinical trial acronyms, as with gene and protein symbols, is simply to have a syntactically usable and easily recalled short name to complement the long name that is often syntactically unusable and not memorized. It is useful for the short name to give a reminder of the long name, which supports the reasonable censure of "cutesy" examples that provide little to no hint of it. But beyond that reasonably close correspondence, the short name's chief utility is in functioning cognitively as a name, rather than being a cryptic and forgettable string, albeit faithful to the matching of letters. However, other reasonable critiques have been (1) that it is irresponsible to mention trial acronyms without explaining them at least once by providing the long names somewhere in the document, and (2) that the proliferation of trial acronyms has resulted in ambiguity, such as 3 different trials all called ASPECT, which is another reason why failing to explain them somewhere in the document is irresponsible in scientific communication. At least one study has evaluated the citation impact and other traits of acronym-named trials compared with others, finding both good aspects (mnemonic help, name recall) and potential flaws (connotatively driven bias).


title: Acronym

text: Some acronyms are chosen deliberately to avoid a name considered undesirable: For example, "Verliebt in Berlin" ("ViB"), a German telenovela, was first intended to be "" ("All for Love"), but was changed to avoid the resultant acronym "ANAL". Likewise, the Computer Literacy and Internet Technology qualification is known as "CLaIT", rather than "CLIT". In Canada, the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance (Party) was quickly renamed to the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance" when its opponents pointed out that its initials spelled CCRAP (pronounced "see crap"). Two Irish Institutes of Technology (Galway and Tralee) chose different acronyms from other institutes when they were upgraded from Regional Technical colleges. Tralee RTC became the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT), as opposed to Tralee Institute of Technology (TIT). Galway RTC became Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), as opposed to Galway Institute of Technology (GIT). The charity sports organization Team in Training is known as "TNT" and not "TIT". Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences, however, is still known as "TITS". George Mason University was planning to name their law school the "Antonin Scalia School of Law" (ASSOL) in honor of the late Antonin Scalia, only to change it to the "Antonin Scalia Law School" later.


title: Acronym

text: A macronym, or nested acronym, is an acronym in which one or more letters stand for acronyms (or abbreviations) themselves. The word "macronym" is a portmanteau of "macro-" and "acronym".


title: Acronym

text: Some macronyms can be multiply nested: the second-order acronym points to another one further down a hierarchy. In an informal competition run by the magazine "New Scientist", a fully documented specimen was discovered that may be the most deeply nested of all: RARS is the "Regional ATOVS Retransmission Service"; ATOVS is "Advanced TOVS"; TOVS is "TIROS operational vertical sounder"; and TIROS is "Television infrared observational satellite". Fully expanded, "RARS" might thus become "Regional Advanced Television Infrared Observational Satellite Operational Vertical Sounder Retransmission Service", which would produce the much more unwieldy acronym "RATIOSOVSRS".


title: Acronym

text: Another example is VITAL, which expands to "VHDL Initiative Towards ASIC Libraries" (a total of 15 words when fully expanded).


title: Acronym

text: However, to say that "RARS" stands directly for that string of words, or can be interchanged with it in syntax (in the same way that "CHF" can be usefully interchanged with "congestive heart failure"), is a prescriptive misapprehension rather than a linguistically accurate description; the true nature of such a term is closer to anacronymic than to being interchangeable like simpler acronyms are. The latter are fully reducible in an attempt to "spell everything out and avoid all abbreviations", but the former are irreducible in that respect; they can be annotated with parenthetical explanations, but they cannot be eliminated from speech or writing in any useful or practical way. Just as the words "laser" and "radar" function as words in syntax and cognition without a need to focus on their acronymic origins, terms such as "RARS" and "CHA2DS2–VASc score" are irreducible in natural language; if they are purged, the form of language that is left may conform to some imposed rule, but it cannot be described as remaining natural. Similarly, protein and gene nomenclature, which uses symbols extensively, includes such terms as the name of the NACHT protein domain, which reflects the symbols of some proteins that contain the domain – NAIP (NLR family apoptosis inhibitor protein), C2TA (major histocompatibility complex class II transcription activator), HET-E (incompatibility locus protein from "Podospora anserine"), and TP1 (telomerase-associated protein) – but is not syntactically reducible to them. The name is thus itself more symbol than acronym, and its expansion cannot replace it while preserving its function in natural syntax as a name within a clause clearly parsable by human readers or listeners.


title: Acronym

text: A special type of macronym, the recursive acronym, has letters whose expansion refers back to the macronym itself. One of the earliest examples appears in "The Hacker's Dictionary" as MUNG, which stands for "MUNG Until No Good".


title: Acronym

text: In English language discussions of languages with syllabic or logographic writing systems (such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), "acronyms" describe the short forms that take selected characters from a multi-character word.


title: Acronym

text: For example, in Chinese, "university" (/, literally "great learning") is usually abbreviated simply as ("great") when used with the name of the institute. So "Peking University" () is commonly shortened to ( "north-great") by also only taking the first character of "Peking", the "northern capital" (). In some cases, however, other characters than the first can be selected. For example, the local short form of "Hong Kong University" () uses "Kong" () rather than "Hong".


title: Acronym

text: There are also cases where some longer phrases are abbreviated drastically, especially in Chinese politics, where proper nouns were initially translated from Soviet Leninist terms. For instance, the full name of China's highest ruling council, the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), is "Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China" (). The term then reduced the "Communist Party of China" part of its name through acronyms, then the "Standing Committee" part, again through acronyms, to create "". Alternatively, it omitted the "Communist Party" part altogether, creating "Politburo Standing Committee" (), and eventually just "Standing Committee" (). The PSC's members full designations are "Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China" (); this was eventually drastically reduced to simply "Changwei" (), with the term "Ruchang" () used increasingly for officials destined for a future seat on the PSC. In another example, the word "" (National People's Congress) can be broken into four parts: "" = "the whole nation", "" = "people", "" = "representatives", "" = "conference". Yet, in its short form "" (literally "man/people big"), only the first characters from the second and the fourth parts are selected; the first part ("") and the third part ("") are simply ignored. In describing such abbreviations, the term "initialism" is inapplicable.


title: Acronym

text: Many proper nouns become shorter and shorter over time. For example, the CCTV New Year's Gala, whose full name is literally read as "China Central Television Spring Festival Joint Celebration Evening Gala" () was first shortened to "Spring Festival Joint Celebration Evening Gala" (), but eventually referred to as simply "Chunwan" (). Along the same vein, CCTV or "Zhongguo Zhongyang Dianshi Tai" () was reduced to "Yangshi" () in the mid-2000s.


title: Acronym

text: Many aspects of academics in Korea follow similar acronym patterns as Chinese, owing to the two languages' commonalities, like using the word for "big" or "great" i.e. "dae" (), to refer to universities (; "daehak", literally "great learning" although "big school" is an acceptable alternate). They can be interpreted similarly to American university appellations such as, "UPenn" or "Texas Tech."


title: Acronym

text: Some acronyms are shortened forms of the school's name, like how Hongik University (, "Hongik Daehakgyo") is shortened to "Hongdae" (, "Hong, the big [school]" or "Hong-U") Other acronyms can refer to the university's main subject, e.g. Korea National University of Education (, "Hanguk Gyowon Daehakgyo") is shortened to "Gyowondae" (교원대, "Big Ed." or "Ed.-U"). Other schools use a Koreanized version of their English acronym. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (, "Hanguk Gwahak Gisulwon") is referred to as KAIST (, "Kaiseuteu") in both English and Korean. The 3 most prestigious schools in Korea are known as SKY (스카이, "seukai"), combining the first letter of their English names (Seoul National, Korea, and Yonsei Universities). In addition, the College Scholastic Ability Test (, "Daehak Suhang Neungryeok Siheom") is shortened to "Suneung" (, "S.A.").


title: Acronym

text: Chinese-based words (Sino-Japanese vocabulary) uses similar acronym formation to Chinese, like for . In some cases alternative pronunciations are used, as in Saikyō for 埼京, from , rather than Saitō.


title: Acronym

text: Non-Chinese foreign borrowings (gairaigo) are instead frequently abbreviated as clipped compounds, rather than acronyms, using several initial sounds. This is visible in katakana transcriptions of foreign words, but is also found with native words (written in hiragana). For example, the "Pokémon" media franchise's name originally stood for "pocket monsters" ( [po-ke-tto-mon-su-tā] → ), which is still the long-form of the name in Japanese, and "wāpuro" stands for "word processor" ( [wā-do-pu-ro-se-ssā]→ ).


title: Acronym

text: To a greater degree than English does, German tends toward acronyms that use initial syllables rather than initial single letters, although it uses many of the latter type as well. Some examples of the syllabic type are "Gestapo" rather than "GSP" (for ', 'Secret State Police'); ' rather than "FAK" (for ', anti-aircraft gun); ' rather than "KP" (for ', detective division police). The extension of such contraction to a pervasive or whimsical degree has been mockingly labeled ' (for ', strange habit of abbreviating). Examples of include ' (for ', short in the front, long in the back, i.e., a mullet) and the mocking of Adolf Hitler's title as ' ("", "Greatest General of all Times").


title: Acronym

text: It is common to take more than just one initial letter from each of the words composing the acronym; regardless of this, the abbreviation sign gershayim is always written between the second-last and last letters of the non-inflected form of the acronym, even if by this it separates letters of the same original word. Examples (keep in mind Hebrew reads right-to-left): (for , the United States); (for , the Soviet Union); (for , Rishon LeZion); (for , the school). An example that takes only the initial letters from its component words is ("Tzahal", for , Israel Defense Forces). In inflected forms the abbreviation sign gershayim remains between the second-last and last letters of the non-inflected form of the acronym (e.g. "report", singular: , plural: ; "squad commander", masculine: , feminine: ).


title: Acronym

text: There is also a widespread use of acronyms in Indonesia in every aspect of social life. For example, the "Golkar" political party stands for "Partai Golongan Karya", "Monas" stands for "Monumen Nasional" (National Monument), the "Angkot" public transport stands for "Angkutan Kota" (city public transportation), "warnet" stands for "warung internet" (internet cafe), and many others. Some acronyms are considered formal (or officially adopted), while many more are considered informal, slang or colloquial.


title: Acronym

text: The capital's metropolitan area (Jakarta and its surrounding satellite regions), "Jabodetabek", is another infamous acronym. This stands for "Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi". Many highways are also named by the acronym method; e.g. "Jalan Tol" (Toll Road) "Jagorawi" (Jakarta-Bogor-Ciawi) and "Purbaleunyi" (Purwakarta-Bandung-Cileunyi), Joglo Semar (Jogja-Solo-Semarang).


title: Acronym

text: In some languages, especially those that use certain alphabets, many acronyms come from the governmental use, particularly in the military and law enforcement services. The Indonesian military (TNI – "Tentara Nasional Indonesia") and Indonesian police (POLRI – "Kepolisian Republik Indonesia") are infamous for heavy acronyms use. Examples include the "Kopassus" ("Komando Pasukan Khusus"; Special Forces Command), "Kopaska" ("Komando Pasukan Katak"; Frogmen Command), "Kodim" ("Komando Distrik Militer"; Military District Command – one of the Indonesian army's administrative divisions), "Serka" ("Sersan Kepala"; Head Sergeant), "Akmil" ("Akademi Militer"; Military Academy – in Magelang) and many other terms regarding ranks, units, divisions, procedures, etc.


title: Acronym

text: Although not as common as in Indonesian, a number of Malay words are formed by merging two words, such as "tadika" from "taman didikan kanak-kanak" (kindergarten) and "pawagam" from "panggung wayang gambar." This, however, has been less prevalent in the modern era, in contrary to Indonesian. It is still often for names such as organisation names, among the most famous being MARA from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (People's Trust Council,) a government agency in Malaysia.


title: Acronym

text: Some acronyms are developed from the Jawi (Malay in Arabic script) spelling of the name and may not reflect its Latin counterpart such as PAS from Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Malaysian Islamic Party) which originated from the Jawi acronym ڤاس from ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا, with the same pronunciation, since the first letter of the word "Islam" in Jawi uses the letter Aleph, which is pronounced like the letter A when in such position as in the acronym.


title: Acronym

text: Rules in writing initialisms in Malay differ based on its script. In its Latin form, the initialism would be spelt much like in English, using capitals written without any spacing, such as TNB for Tenaga Nasional Berhad.


title: Acronym

text: In Jawi, however, the way initialisms are different depending on the source language. For Malay initialisms, the initial Jawi letters would be written separated by a period such as د.ب.ڤ for ديوان بهاس دان ڤوستاک. If the initialism is from a different language, however, it would be written by transliterating each letter from the original language, such as عيم.سي.عيم.سي. for MCMC, or الفا.ڤي.ثيتا for Α.Π.Θ.


title: Acronym

text: Acronyms that use parts of words (not necessarily syllables) are commonplace in Russian as well, e.g. (Gazprom), for (', "gas industry"). There are also initialisms, such as СМИ ("SMI", for ', "means of mass informing", i.e. ГУЛаг (GULag) combines two initials and three letters of the final word: it stands for (", "Chief Administration of Camps").


title: Acronym

text: Historically, "OTMA" was an acronym sometimes used by the daughters of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his consort, Alexandra Feodorovna, as a group nickname for themselves, built from the first letter of each girl's name in the order of their births: "Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia".


title: Acronym

text: In Swahili, acronyms are common for naming organizations such as "TUKI", which stands for " (the Institute for Swahili Research). Multiple initial letters (often the initial syllable of words) are often drawn together, as seen more in some languages than others.


title: Acronym

text: In Vietnamese, which has an abundance of compound words, initialisms are very commonly used for both proper and common nouns. Examples include "TP.HCM" (', Ho Chi Minh City), "THPT" (', high school), "CLB" (', club), "CSDL" (', database), "NXB" (', publisher), "ÔBACE" (', a general form of address), and "CTTĐVN" (', Vietnamese Martyrs). Longer examples include "CHXHCNVN" (', Socialist Republic of Vietnam) and "MTDTGPMNVN" ("codice_1", Viet Cong). Long initialisms have become widespread in legal contexts in Vietnam, for example . It is also common for a writer to coin an ad hoc initialism for repeated use in an article.


title: Acronym

text: Each letter in an initialism corresponds to one morpheme, that is, one syllable. When the first letter of a syllable has a tone mark or other diacritic, the diacritic may be omitted from the initialism, for example "ĐNA" or "ĐNÁ" for "" (Southeast Asia) and "LMCA" or "LMCÂ" for "Liên minh châu Âu" (European Union). The letter "Ư" is often replaced by "W" in initialisms to avoid confusion with "U", for example "UBTWMTTQVN" or "UBTƯMTTQVN" for "Ủy ban Trung ương Mặt trận Tổ quốc Việt Nam" (Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front).


title: Acronym

text: Initialisms are purely a written convenience, being pronounced the same way as their expansions. As the names of many Vietnamese letters are disyllabic, it would be less convenient to pronounce an initialism by its individual letters. Acronyms pronounced as words are rare in Vietnamese, occurring when an acronym itself is borrowed from another language. Examples include ' (), a respelling of the French acronym "SIDA" (AIDS); ' (), a literal reading of the English initialism for Voice of America; and "NASA" (), borrowed directly from the English acronym.


title: Acronym

text: As in Chinese, many compound words can be shortened to the first syllable when forming a longer word. For example, the term Việt Cộng is derived from the first syllables of "Việt Nam" (Vietnam) and "Cộng sản" (communist). This mechanism is limited to Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary. Unlike with Chinese, such clipped compounds are considered to be portmanteau words or blend words rather than acronyms or initialisms, because the Vietnamese alphabet still requires each component word to be written as more than one character.


title: Acronym

text: In languages where nouns are declined, various methods are used. An example is Finnish, where a colon is used to separate inflection from the letters:


title: Acronym

text: The process above is similar to the way that hyphens are used for clarity in English when prefixes are added to acronyms: thus "pre-NATO policy" (rather than "preNATO").


title: Acronym

text: In languages such as Scottish Gaelic and Irish, where lenition (initial consonant mutation) is commonplace, acronyms must also be modified in situations where case and context dictate it. In the case of Scottish Gaelic, a lower-case "h" is often added after the initial consonant; for example, "BBC Scotland" in the genitive case would be written as , with the acronym pronounced "VBC". Likewise, the Gaelic acronym for 'television' is , pronounced "TV", as in English.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , "Kheil HaAvir", "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. , Aluf Tomer Bar has been serving as the Air Force commander.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The Israeli Air Force was established using commandeered or donated civilian aircraft and obsolete and surplus World War II combat aircraft. Eventually, more aircraft were procured, including Boeing B-17s, Bristol Beaufighters, de Havilland Mosquitoes and P-51D Mustangs. The Israeli Air Force played an important part in Operation Kadesh, Israel's part in the 1956 Suez Crisis, dropping paratroopers at the Mitla Pass. On June 5, 1967, the first day of the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force performed Operation Focus, debilitating the opposing Arab air forces and attaining air supremacy for the remainder of the war. Shortly after the end of the Six-Day War, Egypt initiated the War of Attrition, and the Israeli Air Force performed repeated bombings of strategic targets deep within enemy territory. When the Yom Kippur War broke out on October 6, 1973, Egyptian and Syrian advances forced the IAF to abandon detailed plans for the destruction of enemy air defences. Forced to operate under the missile and anti-aircraft artillery threats, the close air support it provided allowed Israeli troops on the ground to stem the tide and eventually go on the offensive.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Since that war most of Israel's military aircraft have been obtained from the United States. Among these are the A-4 Skyhawk, F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35 Lightning II. The Israeli Air Force has also operated a number of domestically produced types such as the IAI Nesher, and later, the more advanced IAI Kfir. On June 7, 1981, eight IAF F-16s covered by six F-15s carried out Operation Opera to destroy the Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osiraq. On June 9, 1982, the Israeli Air Force carried out Operation Mole Cricket 19, crippling Syrian air defences in Lebanon. On October 1, 1985, In response to a PLO terrorist attack which murdered three Israeli civilians in Cyprus, the Israeli air force carried out Operation Wooden Leg, bombing the PLO Headquarters in Tunis. In 1991, the IAF carried out Operation Solomon which brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel. In 1993 and 1996, the IAF participated in Operation Accountability and Operation Grapes of Wrath, respectively. It has taken part in many operations since, including the 2006 Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead, Operation Pillar of Cloud, Operation Protective Edge and Operation Guardian of the Walls. On September 6, 2007, the Israeli Air Force successfully bombed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor in Operation Orchard.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The insignia / roundel of the Israeli Air Force consists of a blue Star of David on a white circle. Aircraft usually carry it painted in six positions – on the top and bottom of each wing, and on each side of the fuselage. A low-visibility variant – a blue Star of David without the white circle – also exists, although its use is extremely rare. Squadron markings usually go on the tail fin.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Forerunners of the Israeli Air Force were the Palestine Flying Service established by the Irgun in 1937, and Sherut Avir, the air wing of the Haganah. The Israeli Air Force formed on May 28, 1948, shortly after Israel declared statehood and found itself under attack. The force consisted of a hodge-podge of commandeered or donated civilian aircraft converted to military use. A variety of obsolete and surplus ex-World War II combat-aircraft were quickly sourced by various means to supplement this fleet. The backbone of the IAF consisted of 25 Avia S-199s (purchased from Czechoslovakia, essentially Czechoslovak-built Messerschmitt Bf 109s), and 60 Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk IXEs, the first of which, "Israel 1", was locally assembled from British abandoned spare parts and a salvaged engine from an Egyptian Air Force Spitfire with most of the rest purchased from Czechoslovakia.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Creativity and resourcefulness were the foundations of early Israeli military success in the air, rather than technology (which, at the inception of the IAF, was generally inferior to that used by Israel's adversaries). The majority, 15 out of the first 18 pilots in 101 Squadron (Israel), of the IAF's first military-grade pilots in 1948 were foreign volunteers (both Jewish and non-Jewish), mainly World War II veterans who wanted to collaborate with Israel's struggle for independence, with the rest of the military-grade pilots being Israeli WWII veterans, whereas pilots from Sherut Avir were mainly locals who flew light civilian aircraft for supply, reconnaissance, and makeshift ground attack with hand-thrown light bombs and hand fired light machine guns.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Israel's new fighter-arm first went into action on May 29, 1948, assisting efforts to halt the Egyptian advance from Gaza northwards. Four newly arrived Avia S-199s, flown by Lou Lenart, Modi Alon, Ezer Weizman and Eddie Cohen, struck Egyptian forces near Ashdod. Although damage to the enemy was minimal, two aircraft were lost and Cohen killed, nevertheless the attack achieved its goal and stopped the Egyptians.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: After un-assembled planes were strafed on the ground on May 30 at Ekron airfield the fighters were moved to makeshift strip located around the current Herzliya Airport. The airfield was used as it was a bit back from the front-lines, and was clandestine since it was a purpose built strip, that was constructed after the beginning of hostilities, in between the orange orchards around Herzliya, and did not appear on published maps. The Israeli Air Force scored its first aerial victories on June 3 when Modi Alon, flying Avia D.112, shot down two Egyptian Air Force DC-3s which had just bombed Tel Aviv. The first dogfight against enemy fighters took place a few days later, on June 8, when Gideon Lichtaman shot down an Egyptian Spitfire. During these initial operations, the squadron operated with a few planes versus an almost complete Arab theater air supremacy and the airplanes were parked dispersed between the orange trees. The fighters were moved in October to Hatzor Airbase from the Herzliya strip due to its unsuitability in rainy conditions, probable loss of clandestine status, moving front lines which made former British bases safe for use, and a shift in the balance of air superiority towards the Israelis.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: As the war progressed Israel procured more and more aircraft, including Boeing B-17s, Bristol Beaufighters, de Havilland Mosquitoes and P-51D Mustangs, leading to a shift in the balance of power.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The Israeli Air Force played an important part in Operation Kadesh, Israel's part in the 1956 Suez Crisis. At the launch of the operation, on October 29, Israeli P-51D Mustangs, some using their propeller blades, severed telephone lines in the Sinai, while 16 IAF DC-3s – escorted by fighters – dropped Israeli paratroopers behind Egyptian lines at the Mitla Pass and Et-Tur. The Israeli Air Force also conducted attacks on Egyptian ground units and assisted the Israeli Navy in capturing the Egyptian Navy destroyer "Ibrahim el Awal", which had bombarded the Israeli city of Haifa – an airstrike damaged the Egyptian ship's engines, enabling Israeli ships to reach it and capture it.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: In three hours on the morning of June 5, 1967, the first day of the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force executed Operation Focus, crippling the opposing Arab air forces and attaining air supremacy for the remainder of the war. In a surprise attack, the IAF destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force while its planes were still on the ground. By the end of the day, with surrounding Arab countries also drawn into the fighting, the IAF had mauled the Syrian and Jordanian air forces as well, striking as far as Iraq. After six days of fighting Israel claimed a total of 452 Arab aircraft destroyed, of which 49 were aerial victories.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: After the IAF's impressive performance in the Six-Day War, the Lyndon Johnson administration decided to sell F-4 Phantom fighters to Israel in 1968, marking the first sale of American military equipment to Israel.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Shortly after the end of the Six-Day War, Egypt initiated the War of Attrition, hoping to prevent Israel from consolidating its hold over the lands captured in 1967. Israel's goal in the fighting was to exact heavy losses on the opposing side, in order to facilitate a ceasefire. The Israeli Air Force consequently undertook repeated bombings of strategic targets deep within enemy territory and repeatedly challenged Arab air forces for aerial supremacy, all the while supporting operations by Israel's ground and naval forces. In late 1969 the Soviet Union began to deploy fighter aircraft units and surface-to-air missile units to Egypt. The Soviet surface-to-air missile units soon joined their Egyptian allies in direct confrontations with Israeli aircraft. Soviet fighters conducted patrols but Israeli pilots were ordered not to engage them. However, on July 30, 1970, the tension peaked: An IAF ambush resulted in a large scale air brawl between IAF planes and MiGs flown by Soviet pilots—five MiGs were shot down, while the IAF suffered no losses. Fear of further escalation and superpower involvement brought the war to a conclusion. By the end of August 1970, the Israeli Air Force had claimed 111 aerial kills while reporting losing only four aircraft to Arab fighters. Egyptian and Soviet forces claimed to shoot down approximately 20 Israeli Air Force planes with surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery units.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: On October 6, 1973, with war imminent, the IAF began preparing for a pre-emptive strike against Egyptian and Syrian airfields and anti-aircraft positions. The Israeli government, however, decided against pre-emption. IAF aircraft were therefore in the process of re-armament to the air-to-air role when Yom Kippur War hostilities began at 14:00. The next morning begun with Operation Tagar, a SEAD offensive against Egyptian air defences, beginning with strikes against Egyptian air bases. "Tagar", however, was quickly discontinued when the dire situation on the Golan Heights became apparent. IAF efforts were redirected north, where the ill-fated Operation Model 5 was carried out. Flying with outdated intelligence and no electronic screening against mobile SAM batteries and heavy flak, 6 IAF Phantoms were lost. The sustained campaign required to defeat enemy air defences was abandoned in the face of Egyptian and Syrian advances and the IAF was forced to operate under the SAM threat. Nevertheless, the close air support it provided allowed Israeli troops on the ground to stem the tide and eventually go on the offensive, first in the north and later in the south.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: After the failure of the Israeli counter-offensive in the Sinai on October 8, the southern front remained relatively static and the IAF focused its attention on the Syrian front. While A-4 Skyhawks provided much needed support to troops on the ground, at the cost of 31 aircraft by the end of fourth day of the war, IAF Phantoms repeatedly struck Syrian air fields. Following Syrian FROG-7 strikes on military and civilian targets in northern Israel, the IAF also initiated a campaign to destroy the infrastructure on which Syria's war-making capacity depended, targeting strategic targets in Syria such as its oil industry and electricity generating system. By October 13 the Syrians had been pushed back and beyond their initial lines, Damascus had come within range of Israeli artillery and an Iraqi armored brigade, the vanguard of its expeditionary force, was destroyed.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: On October 14 the Egyptian army launched an offensive along the entire front, but was repulsed by the IDF. Israel followed on this success by attacking at the seam between the 2nd and 3rd Egyptian armies and crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt. Israeli forces fanned north and south, destroying Egyptian rear units and punching holes through its air defence array. This allowed the IAF the freedom of action it was previously denied and renewed attacks led to the collapse of the Egyptian Air Defence Force. This prompted increased diplomatic activity to resolve the war, coupled with increased activity by the Egyptian Air Force. From about October 18 to the end of the war, intensive air battles took place between Israeli and Egyptian aircraft.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Official Israeli Air Force losses of the Yom Kippur War number at 102 aircraft, including 32 F-4 Phantoms, 53 A-4 Skyhawks, 11 Dassault Mirages, and 6 IAI Sa'ars, although other accounts suggest as many as 128 Israeli aircraft were lost. 91 air force personnel, of which 53 were airmen, were killed. 172 Egyptian aircraft were shot down in air-to-air combat, for a loss of between 5 and 21 for the Israelis (on all fronts). No official numbers were released on the Arab side, though total Egyptian losses were between 235 and 242 aircraft, while Syria lost between 135 and 179.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Since the war most of Israel's military aircraft have been obtained from the United States. Among these are the F-4 Phantom II, A-4 Skyhawk, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. The Israeli Air Force has also operated a number of domestically produced types such as the IAI Nesher, and later, the more advanced IAI Kfir, which were derivatives of the French Dassault Mirage 5. The Kfir was adapted to utilize a more powerful U.S. engine, produced under license in Israel. On July 4, 1976, four Israeli C-130 Hercules transport aircraft secretly flew to Entebbe Airport for a rescue operation. In March 1978, the Israeli Air Force participated in Operation Litani.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: On June 7, 1981, eight IAF F-16A fighters covered by six F-15A jets carried out Operation Opera to destroy the Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osiraq. Among the pilots who took part in the attack was Ilan Ramon, later Israel's first astronaut.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Prior to the 1982 Lebanon War, Syria, with the help of the Soviet Union, had built up an overlapping network of surface-to-air missiles in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. On June 9, 1982, the Israeli Air Force carried out Operation Mole Cricket 19, crippling the Syrian air defence array. In subsequent aerial battles against the Syrian Air Force, the IAF managed to shoot down 86 Syrian aircraft without losing a single fighter plane in an air-to-air combat. IAF AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships destroyed dozens of Syrian armored fighting vehicles and other ground targets, including some T-72 main battle tanks.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: For many years after the war's official end, and throughout Israeli presence in Lebanon, the IAF continued to mount attacks on Hezbollah and PLO positions in south Lebanon. On October 1, 1985, In response to a PLO terrorist attack which murdered three Israeli civilians in Cyprus, the Israeli air force carried out Operation Wooden Leg. The strike involved the bombing of PLO Headquarters in Tunis, by F-15 Eagles. This was the longest combat mission ever undertaken by the IAF, a stretch of 2,300 kilometers, involving in-flight refueling by an IAF Boeing 707. As a result, PLO headquarters and barracks were either destroyed or damaged.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Many of the IAF's electronics and weapons systems are developed and built in Israel by Israel Military Industries, Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit, and others. Since the 1990s, the IAF has upgraded most of its aircraft with advanced Israeli-made systems, improving their performances. In 1990 the IAF began receiving the AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship and started equipping its aircraft with the Rafael Python 4, Popeye, and Derby missiles.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: During the first Gulf War of 1991, Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles. Israeli Air Force pilots were on constant stand-by in their cockpits throughout the conflict, ready to fly to Iraq to retaliate. Diplomatic pressure as well as denial of IFF transponder codes from the United States, however, kept the IAF grounded while Coalition air assets and Patriot missile batteries supplied by the US and the Netherlands sought to deal with the Scuds.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: In 1991, the IAF carried out Operation Solomon which brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel. In 1993 and 1996, the IAF participated in Operation Accountability and Operation Grapes of Wrath, respectively.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: In the late 1990s, the IAF began acquiring the F-15I Ra'am (Thunder) and the F-16I Sufa (Storm), manufactured specially for Israel according to IAF requirements. The first of 102 F-16I Sufas arrived in April 2004 joining an F-16 fleet that had already been the largest outside the US Air Force. The IAF also purchased the advanced Israeli air-to-air missile Rafael Python 5, with full-sphere capability, as well as a special version of the Apache Longbow, designated AH-64DI or Saraph. In 2005 the Israeli Air Force received modified Gulfstream V jets ("Nachshon"), equipped with advanced intelligence systems made by Israel Military Industries. By 2013 Israel became the world's largest exporter of drones. In December 2016, Israel received its first pair of F-35 Lightning II from the United States.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Three months after the assassination of the leader of Hizbullah, Abbas al-Musawi, the IAF launched an offensive across South Lebanon with five air raids in six days. Some of the targets struck were as far north as Baalbek. On the final day, 26 May 1992, there were more than 40 missile strikes. Over 20 civilians were killed during the attacks.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The Israeli Air Force took an extensive part in IDF operations during the al-Aqsa Intifada, including the controversial targeted killings of Palestinian terrorist leaders, most notably Salah Shakhade, Ahmed Yassin and Abed al-Aziz Rantissi. While this policy was criticized due to the collateral damage caused in certain instances, Israel claims it is vital in its fight against terrorism and that IAF pilots do whatever they can to avoid civilian casualties, including aborting strikes. In 2007, Israel achieved a civilian casualty ratio of 1:30, or one civilian casualty for every thirty combatant casualties, in its airstrikes on militants in the Palestinian territories. Alan Dershowitz noted that "No army in history has ever had a better ratio of combatants to civilians killed in a comparable setting".


title: Israeli Air Force

text: On October 5, 2003, the Israeli Air Force attacked an alleged Palestinian militant training camp in Ain es Saheb, Syria. A reaction to an earlier suicide bombing in Haifa, this was the first overt Israeli military operation in Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The IAF played a critical role in the 2006 Lebanon War. IAF strikes—mainly, though not exclusively, in southern Lebanon—were aimed at stopping rocket launches by Hezbollah's militia targeting Israeli towns. The IAF flew more than 12,000 combat missions during this war. The most notable, taking place during the second day of the war, resulted in the IAF destroying 59 Iranian-supplied medium- and long-range missile launchers in just 34 minutes. Widespread condemnation followed the July 30 IAF airstrike on a building suspected to be a militant hideout near the village of Qana, in which 28 civilians were killed. Hezbollah shot down an IAF CH-53 Yas'ur helicopter on the last day of the war, killing five crew members. Israeli aircraft also shot down three of Hezbollah's Iranian-made aerial drones during the conflict.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: In the 2007 Operation Outside the Box, the Israeli Air Force attacked a suspected Syrian nuclear weapons site. The IAF used electronic warfare (EW) system to take neutralize Syria's air defenses, feeding them a false sky-picture while IAF jets crossed much of Syria, bombed their targets and returned to Israel unchallenged.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Since Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007, the Israeli Air Force has taken part in repeated bouts of violence between Israel and the Hamas-held Gaza Strip. In December 2008, the IAF spearheaded Operation Cast Lead, carrying out more than 2,360 air strikes. It had a principal role in destroying Hamas targets, and killed several senior Hamas commanders, including Said Seyam, Nizar Rayan, Tawfik Jaber, and Abu Zakaria al-Jamal.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: According to a CBS news report, in January 2009 Israeli planes struck a convoy of trucks in Sudan headed for Egypt and carrying weapons apparently meant for the Gaza Strip. Seventeen trucks were bombed and thirty-nine smugglers were killed in the strike. On April 5, 2011, a car driving from Port Sudan Airport to Port Sudan was destroyed by a missile. Both passengers were killed. one of whom may have been a senior Hamas military commander. The Sudanese Foreign Minister blamed the attack on Israel. Sudanese newspapers reported that Israeli aircraft attacked Gaza-bound arms convoys again in late 2011. On October 24, 2012, Sudan claimed that Israel had bombed a munitions factory south of Khartoum.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The Israeli Air Force also operates surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery units. Since 1990 their primary role has been the interception of surface-to-surface missiles and rockets fired into Israel. In 2011 the IAF began operating the 'Iron Dome' anti-rocket missile system, which within a year had successfully intercepted and destroyed 93 rockets fired at Israeli towns from Gaza.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: In November 2012, the IAF participated in Operation Pillar of Defense, during which, according to the IDF Spokesperson, Israeli forces targeted more than 1,500 military sites in Gaza Strip, including rocket launching pads, smuggling tunnels, command centers, and weapons manufacturing and storage facilities. Many of these attacks were carried out by the Air Force.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Between July 8 and August 5, 2014, the IAF participated in Operation Protective Edge, during which, according to the IDF Spokesperson, Israeli forces targeted 4,762 terror sites across the Gaza Strip, including rocket launching sites, command and control centers, military administration facilities, weapons storage and manufacturing facilities and training and military compounds.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: In May 2021, Israeli artillery and air force carried out 1,500 strikes on Gaza during Operation Guardian of the Walls.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: The civil war raging within Israel's northern neighbor, has occasionally witnessed activity by the IAF, some overt, some unacknowledged and some merely attributed. Notable actions include:


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Thirty nine Israeli pilots have been credited with ace status, having shot down at least 5 enemy aircraft. Of these, 10 have shot down at least eight jet planes. The top ranking Israeli ace is Colonel Giora Epstein, who shot down seventeen enemy planes. Epstein holds the world record for jet aircraft shot down, and the most aircraft of any type shot down since the Korean War.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: Israel Defence Forces had until 1995 denied women the opportunity to become pilots. In 1995, civilian pilot and aeronautical engineer Alice Miller successfully petitioned the Israel High Court of Justice to take the Israeli Air Force pilot training exams, after being rejected on grounds of gender. The court in 1996 eventually ruled that the IAF could not exclude qualified women from pilot training. Even though Miller would not pass the exams, the ruling was a watershed, opening doors for women in new IDF roles. After the prohibition had been lifted, the first female graduate was F-16 navigator "Shari" in 1998, followed three years later by Roni Zuckerman, the first female jet fighter pilot in IAF history.


title: Israeli Air Force

text: IAF ranks are identical to other Israel Defense Forces ranks; the rank insignia are identical except for the use of silver against a dark blue background. The service's most senior-ranking active officer is the air force commander, which is the billet of a major general ("aluf"), and reports directly to the IDF Chief of Staff.


title: Mammootty filmography

text: Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. In 1972, he made his onscreen debut as an extra in K. S. Sethumadhavan's "Anubhavangal Paalichakal" while studying law in Maharaja's College. Since then he has acted in over 400 films in Malayalam and other languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English films. After his debut, he appeared in an uncredited role in "Kaalachakram" (1973). In 1979, while he was practising law in Manjeri he was offered a pivotal role in M. T. Vasudevan Nair's "Devalokam." However, this film was never released.


title: Mammootty filmography

text: In 1980, Mammootty landed his first credited role in the film "Vilkkanundu Swapnangal." He continued to act in minor roles in several films such as "Mela" (1980) and "Sphodanam" (1981). His first film as an independent lead actor came with I. V. Sasi's "Thrishna." Then following that, he starred in lead and supporting roles. His role as Vasu in I. V. Sasi's "Ahimsa" won him the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor. His breakthrough in Malayalam cinema came with P. G. Vishwambharan's "Sandhyakku Virinja Poovu" (1983). Between 1984 and 2000, he won six Filmfare Awards including two consecutive wins for the Best Actor (Malayalam). Mammootty turned producer for "Adiyozhukkukal" (1984), in which he played the lead role of a fisherman back from jail. The film was produced under the "Casino Films" banner.


title: Mammootty filmography

text: Mammootty debuted in Tamil cinema with "Mounam Sammadham" (1989). While he made his Telugu film debut with "Swathi Kiranam" (1992). He made his Bollywood debut in the same year with "Dhartiputra". He won 3 National Film Awards, 7 Kerala State Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards South. His 2010 film "Kutty Srank" won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, while his 2006 film "Karutha Pakshikal" won the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. In 1998, the government of India honoured him with its fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri for his contribution to the Indian film industry. He was conferred with the Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Calicut and the University of Kerala in 2010. In 2005, Asianet called him "The greatest method actor to grace Indian cinema." He has starred in both art house and blockbuster films.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following is a list of events affecting Philippine television in 2022. Events listed include: television show debuts, finales and cancellations; channel and streaming launches, closures and rebrandings; as well as information about controversies and carriage disputes.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following are a list of free-to-air and cable channels or networks launches and closures in 2022.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following is a list of television stations or cable channels that have made or will make noteworthy network rebrands in 2022.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following is a list of stations and channels or networks that have stopped broadcasting or (temporarily) off the air in 2022.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following are a list of television operators or providers and streaming media platforms or services launches and closures in 2022.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following is a list of streaming providers that have made or will make noteworthy service rebrands in 2022.


title: 2022 in Philippine television

text: The following is a list of providers and platforms or services that have stopped operating or streaming in 2022.


title: Slasher film

text: A slasher film is a genre of crime or horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any crime or horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other crime and horror subgenres, such as splatter films and psychological horror films.


title: Slasher film

text: Critics cite the Italian "giallo" films and psychological horror films such as "Peeping Tom" (1960) and "Psycho" (1960) as early influences. The genre hit its peak between 1978 and 1984 in an era referred to as the "Golden Age" of slasher films. Notable slasher films include "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974), "Black Christmas" (1974), "Halloween" (1978), "Friday the 13th" (1980), "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), "Child's Play" (1988), "Candyman" (1992), "Scream" (1996) and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997). Many slasher films released decades ago continue to attract cult followings. The slasher canon can be divided into three eras: the classical (1974–1993), the self-referential (1994–2000) and the neoslasher cycle (2001–2013).


title: Slasher film

text: Slasher films typically adhere to a specific formula: a past wrongful action causes severe trauma that is reinforced by a commemoration or anniversary that reactivates or re-inspires the killer. Built around stalk-and-murder sequences, the films draw upon the audience's feelings of catharsis, recreation, and displacement, as related to sexual pleasure.


title: Slasher film

text: The final girl trope is discussed in film studies as being a young woman (occasionally a young man) left alone to face the killer's advances in the movie's end. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the heroine in "Halloween", is an example of a typical final girl. Final girls are often, like Laurie Strode, virgins among sexually active teens.


title: Slasher film

text: Several slasher film villains grew to take on villain protagonist characteristics, with the series following the continued efforts of a villain, rather than the killer's victims (for example, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Chucky, and Leatherface). The "Scream" film series is a rarity that follows its heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) rather than masked killer Ghostface, whose identity changes from film to film, and is only revealed in each entry's finale.


title: Slasher film

text: The appeal of watching people inflict violence upon each other dates back thousands of years to Ancient Rome, though fictionalized accounts became marketable with late 19th century horror plays produced at the Grand Guignol. Maurice Tourneur's "The Lunatics" (1912) used visceral violence to attract the Guignol's audience. In the United States, public outcry over films like this eventually led to the passage of the Hays Code in 1930. The Hays Code is one of the entertainment industry's earliest set of guidelines restricting sexuality and violence deemed unacceptable.


title: Slasher film

text: Crime writer Mary Roberts Rinehart influenced horror literature with her novel "The Circular Staircase" (1908), adapted into the silent film "The Bat" (1926), about guests in a remote mansion menaced by a killer in a grotesque mask. Its success led to a series of "old dark house" films including "The Cat and the Canary" (1927), based on John Willard's 1922 stage play, and Universal Pictures' "The Old Dark House" (1932), based on the novel by J.B. Priestley. In both films, the town dwellers are pitted against strange country folk, a recurring theme in later horror films. Along with the "madman on the loose" plotline, these films employed several influences upon the slasher genre, such as lengthy point of view shots and a "sins of the father" catalyst to propel the plot's mayhem.


title: Slasher film

text: George Archainbaud's "Thirteen Women" (1932) tells the story of a sorority whose former members are set against one another by a vengeful peer who crosses out their yearbook photos, a device used in subsequent films "Prom Night" (1980) and "Graduation Day" (1981). Early examples include a maniac seeking revenge in "The Terror" (1928), based on the play by Edgar Wallace.


title: Slasher film

text: B-movie mogul Val Lewton produced "The Leopard Man" (1943), about a murderer framing his crimes against women on an escaped show leopard. Basil Rathbone's "The Scarlet Claw" (1944) sees Sherlock Holmes investigate murders committed with a five-pronged garden weeder that the killer would raise in the air and bring down on the victim repeatedly, an editing technique that became familiar in the genre. Robert Siodmak's "The Spiral Staircase" (1946), based on Ethel White's novel "Some Must Watch", stars Ethel Barrymore as a sympathetic woman trying to survive black-gloved killers. "The Spiral Staircase" also features an early use of jump scares.


title: Slasher film

text: British writer Agatha Christie's particularly influential 1939 novel "Ten Little Indians" (adapted in 1945 as "And Then There Were None"), centers on a group of people with secret pasts who are killed one-by-one on an isolated island. Each of the murders mirrors a verse from a nursery rhyme, merging the themes of childhood innocence and vengeful murder. "House of Wax" (1953), "The Bad Seed" (1956), "Screaming Mimi" (1958), "Jack the Ripper" (1959), and "Cover Girl Killer" (1959) all incorporated Christie's literary themes.


title: Slasher film

text: Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) used visuals that had been deemed unacceptable by movie studios, including scenes of violence, sexuality, and even the shot of a toilet flushing. The film featured an iconic score by Bernard Herrmann that has been frequently imitated in slasher and horror films. That same year, Michael Powell released "Peeping Tom", showing the killer's perspective as he murders women to photograph their dying expressions.


title: Slasher film

text: "Psycho" was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins garnering universal acclaim for his role as Norman Bates. This notice drew bankable movie stars to horror films. Joan Crawford starred in William Castle's "Strait-Jacket" (1964) and in Jim O'Connolly's "Berserk!" (1967), while Albert Finney starred in MGM's "Night Must Fall" (1964) (a remake of the 1937 British film) and Peter Cushing starred in "Corruption" (1968).


title: Slasher film

text: Hammer Studios, a London-based company, followed "Psycho"'s success with "Taste of Fear" (1961), "Maniac" (1963), "Paranoiac" (1963), "Nightmare" (1964), "Fanatic" (1965), "The Nanny" (1965), and "Hysteria" (1965). Hammer's rival Amicus had Robert Bloch, author of 1959 "Psycho" novel, write the script for "Psychopath" (1968).


title: Slasher film

text: Francis Ford Coppola's debut, "Dementia 13" (1963), takes place in an Irish castle where relatives gather to commemorate a family death but are murdered one-by-one. William Castle's "Homicidal" (1961) features gore in its murder scenes, something both "Psycho" and "Peeping" "Tom" had edited out. Richard Hillard's "Violent Midnight" (1963) showed a black-gloved killer's point of view as they pull down a branch to watch a victim and also featured a skinny-dipping scene. Crown International's "Terrified" (1963) features a masked killer. Spain's "The House That Screamed" (1969) features violent murders and preempted later campus-based slashers.


title: Slasher film

text: Splatter films focus on gratuitous gore. Herschell Gordon Lewis's "Blood Feast" (1963) was a hit at drive-in theaters and is often considered the first splatter film. Lewis followed with gory films "Two-Thousand Maniacs!" (1964), "Color Me Blood Red" (1965), "The Gruesome Twosome" (1967) and "The Wizard of Gore" (1971). This grotesque style translated to Andy Milligan's "The Ghastly Ones" (1969), "Twisted Nerve" (1968), "Night After Night After Night" (1969) as well as "The Haunted House of Horror" (1969).


title: Slasher film

text: Post-World War II Germany adapted British writer Edgar Wallace's crime novels into a subgenre of their own called "Krimi" films. The "Krimi" films were released in the late 1950s through the early 1970s and featured villains in bold costumes accompanied by jazz scores from composers such as Martin Böttcher and Peter Thomas. "Fellowship of the Frog" (1959), about a murderer terrorizing London, was successful in America, leading to similar adaptations like "The Green Archer" (1961) and "Dead Eyes of London" (1961). The Rialto Studio produced 32 "Krimi" films between 1959 and 1970.


title: Slasher film

text: Italy's "giallo" thrillers are crime procedurals or murder mysteries interlaced with eroticism and psychological horror. "Giallo" films feature unidentified killers murdering in grand fashions. Unlike most American slasher films the protagonists of "gialli" are frequently (but not always) jet-setting adults sporting the most stylish Milan fashions. These protagonists are often outsiders reluctantly brought into the mystery through extenuating circumstances, like witnessing a murder or being suspected of the crimes themselves. Much like "Krimi" films, "gialli" plots tended to be outlandish and improbable, occasionally employing supernatural elements. Sergio Martino's "Torso" (1973) featured a masked killer preying upon beautiful and promiscuous co-eds in retribution for a past misdeed. "Torso"'s edge-of-your-seat climax finds a "final girl" facing off with the killer in an isolated villa. Mario Bava's "A Bay of Blood" (1971) is a whodunit depicting creative death sequences on a lakeside setting, and greatly inspired "Friday the 13th" (1980) and its 1981 sequel. "Gialli" were popular in American cinemas and drive-in theaters. Thriller "Assault" (1971) and Spanish mystery "A Dragonfly for Each Corpse" (1974) share many traits with Italian "gialli". "Death Steps in the Dark" (1977) spoofed the familiar conventions found in "giallo" films. Despite successes from "Deep Red" (1975) and "The Blood-Stained Shadow" (1978), "giallo" films gradually fell out of fashion by the mid-1970s as diminishing returns forced budget cuts. Films such as "Play Motel" (1979) and "Giallo a Venezia" (1979) exploited their low-budgets with shocking hardcore pornography.


title: Slasher film

text: The early 1970s saw an increase in exploitation films that lured audiences to grindhouses and drive-ins by advertising of sex and violence. Robert Fuest's "And Soon the Darkness" (1970) set off the '70s exploitation wave by maximizing its small budget and taking place in daylight. "The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio" (1971) follows an insane killer who stalks and murders victims at a nursing academy. "Hands of the Ripper" (1971) depicts the psychological trauma suffered by Jack the Ripper's daughter, who continues the murderous reign of her father. "Fright" (1971) is based on the "babysitter and the man upstairs" urban legend while "Tower of Evil" (1972) features careless partying teens murdered in a remote island lighthouse. Pete Walker broke taboos by advertising his films' negative reviews to attract viewers looking for the depraved, using a "no press is bad press" mantra with "The Flesh and Blood Show" (1972), "Frightmare" (1974), "House of Mortal Sin" (1976), "Schizo" (1976) and "The Comeback" (1978). Other filmmakers followed Walker's lead, as posters dubbed "Blood and Lace" (1971) as "sickest PG-rated movie ever made!", while "Scream Bloody Murder" (1973) called itself as "gore-nography."


title: Slasher film

text: By 1974 the exploitation film battled political correctness and their popularity waned, and while films like "The Love Butcher" (1975) and "" (1976) were accused of promoting bigotry, the low-budget independent film "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) became a major hit and the most commercially successful horror film since "The Exorcist". The story concerns a violent clash of cultures and ideals between the counter-culture and traditional conservative values, with the film's squealing antagonist Leatherface carrying a chainsaw and wearing the faces of victims he and his family eat. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" spawned imitators and its false "based on a true story" advertisements gave way to reenactments of true crime. "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" (1976), based on the Phantom Killer case, and "Another Son of Sam" (1977), based on the Son of Sam slayings, cashed-in on headlines and public fascination. Wes Craven modernized the Sawney Bean legend in "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977) by building upon themes presented in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". "The Hills Have Eyes" was another huge financial success, relaunching Craven's career after it had been damaged by controversy surrounding his previous film, "The Last House on the Left" (1972).


title: Slasher film

text: Following holiday-themed exploitation films "Home for the Holidays" (1972), "All Through the House" (1972) and "Silent Night, Bloody Night" (1973), "Black Christmas" (1974) uses horror as a board to debate social topics of its time, including feminism, abortion, and alcoholism. Using the "killer calling from inside the house" gimmick, "Black Christmas" is visually and thematically a precursor to John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978), as young women are terrorized in a previously safe environment during an iconic holiday. Like "Halloween", Clark's film opens with a lengthy point-of-view, but it differs in the treatment of the killer's identity. Despite making $4,053,000 on a $620,000 budget, "Black Christmas" was initially criticized, with "Variety" complaining that it was a "bloody, senseless kill-for-kicks" flick that exploited unnecessary violence. Despite its modest initial box office run, the film has garnered critical reappraisal, with film historians noting its importance in the horror film genre and some even citing it as the original slasher film.


title: Slasher film

text: Jumpstarted by the massive success of John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978), the era commonly cited as the Golden Age of slasher films is 1978–1984, with some scholars citing over 100 similar films released over the six-year period. Despite most films receiving negative reviews, many Golden Age slasher films were extremely profitable and have established cult followings. Many films reused "Halloween"'s template of a murderous figure stalking teens, though they escalated the gore and nudity from Carpenter's restrained film. Golden Age slasher films exploited dangers lurking in American institutions such as high schools, colleges, summer camps, and hospitals.


title: Slasher film

text: Cashing in on the drive-in success of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974), "The Toolbox Murders" was quickly and cheaply shot but did not generate the interest of the former films. Exploitative "Killer's Delight" is a San Francisco-set serial killer story claiming to take inspiration from Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer. Leading up to "Halloween"'s October release were August's "gialli"-inspired "Eyes of Laura Mars" (written by John Carpenter) and September's "babysitter in peril" TV Movie "Are You in the House Alone?" Of them, "The" "Eyes of Laura Mars" grossed $20 million against a $7 million budget.


title: Slasher film

text: Influenced by the French New Wave's "Eyes Without a Face" (1960), science fiction thriller "Westworld" (1973) and "Black Christmas" (1974), "Halloween" was directed, composed and co-written by Carpenter, who co-wrote it with his then-girlfriend and producing partner Debra Hill on a budget of $300,000 provided by Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad. To minimize costs, locations were reduced and time took place over a brief period. Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Janet Leigh, was cast as the heroine Laurie Strode while veteran actor Donald Pleasence was cast as Dr. Sam Loomis, an homage to John Gavin's character in "Psycho". "Halloween"'s opening tracks a six-year-old's point-of-view as he kills his older sister, a scene emulated in numerous films such as "Blow Out" (1981) and "The Funhouse" (1981). Carpenter denies writing sexually active teens to be victims in favor of a virginal "final girl" survivor, though subsequent filmmakers copied what appeared to be a "sex-equals-death" mantra.


title: Slasher film

text: When shown an early cut of "Halloween" without a musical score, all major American studios declined to distribute it, one executive even remarking that it was not scary. Carpenter added music himself, and the film was distributed locally in four Kansas City theaters through Akkad's Compass International Pictures in October 1978. Word-of-mouth made the movie a sleeper hit that was selected to screen at the November 1978 Chicago Film Festival, where the country's major critics acclaimed it. "Halloween" grew into a major box office success, grossing over $70 million worldwide and selling over 20 million tickets in North America, becoming the most profitable independent film until being surpassed by "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1990).


title: Slasher film

text: Though the telekinesis slasher "Tourist Trap" was initially unsuccessful, it has undergone a reappraisal by fans. 1979's most successful slasher was Fred Walton's "When a Stranger Calls", which sold 8.5 million tickets in North America. Its success has largely been credited to its opening scene, in which a babysitter (Carol Kane) is taunted by a caller who repeatedly asks, "Have you checked the children?" Less successful were Ray Dennis Steckler's burlesque slasher "The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher" and Abel Ferrara's "The Driller Killer", both of which featured gratuitous on-screen violence against vagrant people.


title: Slasher film

text: The election of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States drew in a new age of conservatism that ushered concern of rising violence on film. The slasher film, at the height of its commercial power, also became the center of a political and cultural maelstrom. Sean S. Cunningham's sleeper hit "Friday the 13th" was the year's most commercially successful slasher film, grossing more than $59.7 million and selling nearly 15 million tickets in North America. Despite a financial success, distributor Paramount Pictures was criticized for "lowering" itself to release a violent exploitation film, with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert famously despising the film. Siskel, in his "Chicago Tribune" review, revealed the identity and fate of the film's killer in an attempt to hurt its box office, and provided the address of the chairman of Paramount Pictures for viewers to complain. The MPAA was criticized for allowing "Friday the 13th" an R rating, but its violence would inspire gorier films to follow, as it set a new bar for acceptable levels of on-screen violence. The criticisms that began with "Friday the 13th" would lead to the genre's eventual decline in subsequent years.


title: Slasher film

text: The small-budget thrillers "Silent Scream" and "Prom Night" were box office hits with $7.9 and $14.8 million, respectively. Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the independent "Prom Night", as well studio films "Terror Train" and "The Fog" to earn her "scream queen" title. MGM's the "Halloween"-clone "He Knows You're Alone" sold nearly 2 million tickets, though Paramount Pictures John Huston-directed "Phobia" only sold an estimated 22,000 tickets. Two high-profile slasher-thrillers were met with protest, William Friedkin's "Cruising" and Gordon Willis' "Windows", both of which equate homosexuality with psychosis. "Cruising" drew protests from gay rights groups, and though it pre-dates the AIDS crisis, the film's portrayal of the gay community fueled subsequent backlash once the virus became an epidemic.


title: Slasher film

text: Low budget exploitative films "New Year's Evil", "Don't Go in the House" and "Don't Answer the Phone!" were called-out for misogyny that dwelled on the suffering of females exclusively. Acclaimed filmmaker Brian De Palma's "Psycho"-homage "Dressed to Kill" drew a wave of protest from the National Organization for Women (NOW), who picketed the film's screening on the University of Iowa campus. The year's most controversial slashers was William Lustig's "Maniac", about a schizophrenic serial killer in New York. "Maniac" was maligned by critics. Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" said that watching the film was like "watching someone else throw up." Lustig released the film unrated on American screens, sidestepping the MPAA to still bring in $6 million at the box office.


title: Slasher film

text: Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"'s influence was felt two decades later in "Funeral Home" and "The Unseen". Ridley Scott's successful "Alien" (1979) spawned its own sci-fi-horror subgenre that included slasher films "Scared to Death" and "Without Warning". The $86.4 million box office success of "The Amityville Horror" (1979) spurred an interest in the supernatural, from "The Boogeyman" to the Bigfoot slasher "Night of the Demon". Joe D'Amato's gruesome Italian horror film "Antropophagus" and the Australian slasher "Nightmares" showed that the genre was spreading internationally.


title: Slasher film

text: Slasher films reached a saturation point in 1981, as heavily promoted movies like "My Bloody Valentine" and "The Burning" were box office failures. After the success of "Friday the 13th", Paramount Pictures picked up "My Bloody Valentine" with hopes to achieve similar success. The film became the subject of intense scrutiny in the wake of John Lennon's murder, and was released heavily edited; lacking the draw of gore, "My Bloody Valentine" barely sold 2 million tickets in North America, much less than the 15 million sold by "Friday the 13th" the year beforehand. Thematically similar to "My Bloody Valentine", "The Prowler" hoped to lure an audience with gore effects by "Friday the 13th"'s Tom Savini but large MPAA edits contributed to its failure to find a nationwide distributor. Suffering similar censorship was "The Burning", which also employed Savini's special effects, though it does mark the feature film debuts of Brad Grey, Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein.


title: Slasher film

text: Profits of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" drew studio interest, to varying success. Warner Bros.'s "Eyes of a Stranger" ($1.1 million) and "Night School" ($1.2 million)"," Paramount Pictures' "The Fan" ($3 million), Universal Pictures' "The Funhouse" ($8 million), and Columbia Pictures' "Happy Birthday to Me" ($10 million). CBS' TV movie, "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" brought the genre to the small screen. Two sequels had bigger body counts and more gore than their predecessors, but not higher box office intakes. "Friday the 13th Part 2" sold 7.8 million tickets and "Halloween II" sold 9.2 million. Both sequels sold around half of their original film's tickets, though they were still very popular ("Halloween II" was the second highest-grossing horror film of the year behind "An American Werewolf in London").


title: Slasher film

text: Independent companies churned out slasher films "Final Exam", "Bloody Birthday", "Hell Night", "Don't Go in the Woods... Alone!", Wes Craven's "Deadly Blessing" and "Graduation Day". Fantasy and sci-fi genres continued to blend with the slasher film in "Strange Behavior", "Ghostkeeper" and "Evilspeak". The international market found Italy's "Absurd" and "Madhouse" and Germany's "Bloody Moon".


title: Slasher film

text: Straight-to-video productions cut costs to maximize profit. The independent horror film "Madman" opened in New York City's top 10, according to "Variety," but soon fell out of theaters for a much healthier life on home video. "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" and "Honeymoon Horror", each made for between $50–90,000, became successful in the early days of VHS. Because of this change, independent productions began having difficulties finding theatrical distribution. "Girls Nite Out" had a very limited release in 1982 but was re-released in 1983 in more theaters until finally finding a home on VHS. Paul Lynch's "Humongous" was released through AVCO Embassy Pictures, but a change in management severely limited the film's theatrical release. Films such as "Hospital massacre" and "Night Warning" enjoyed strong home rentals from video stores, though "Dark Sanity", "The Forest", "Unhinged", "Trick or Treats", and "Island of Blood" fell into obscurity with little theatrical releases and only sub-par video transfers.


title: Slasher film

text: Supernatural slasher films continued to build in popularity with "The Slayer", "The Incubus", "Blood Song", "Don't Go to Sleep" and "Superstition" (the supernatural-themed "", though part of the "Halloween" franchise, does not adhere to the slasher film formula). "Alone in the Dark" was New Line Cinema's first feature film, released to little revenue and initially dismissed by critics, though the film has gained critical reappraisal. Director Amy Holden Jones and writer Rita Mae Brown gender-swapped to showcase exploitative violence against men in "The Slumber Party Massacre," while "Visiting Hours" pitted liberal feminism against macho right-wing bigotry with exploitative results.


title: Slasher film

text: "Friday the 13th Part III", the first slasher trilogy, was an enormous success, selling 12 million tickets and dethroning E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial from the top of the box office. The film's iconic hockey mask has grown to pop-culture iconography. Universal Pictures had a tiny release for "Death Valley", while Columbia Pictures found modest success with "Silent Rage". Independent distributor Embassy Pictures released "The Seduction" to a surprising $11 million, an erotic slasher-thriller that predates blockbusters "Fatal Attraction" (1987) and "Basic Instinct" (1992) by several years.


title: Slasher film

text: Internationally, Australia released "Next of Kin" while Puerto Rico's "Pieces" was filmed in Boston and Madrid by an Italian-American producer with a Spanish director. Italian "gialli" saw slasher film influences in their releases for Sergio Martino's "The Scorpion with Two Tails", Lucio Fulci's "The New York Ripper" and Dario Argento's "Tenebrae".


title: Slasher film

text: Traditional slasher films saw less frequent output. "The House on Sorority Row" followed the same general plot as "Prom Night" (1980) with guilty teens stalked and punished for a terrible secret. "The Final Terror" borrows visual and thematic elements from "Just Before Dawn" (1981), as "Sweet Sixteen" borrows from "Happy Birthday to Me" (1981). The most successful slasher of the year was "Psycho II", which grossed over $34 million at the box office. The film also reunited original "Psycho" (1960) cast members Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles. "10 to Midnight," inspired by the real-life crimes of Richard Speck, promoted star Charles Bronson's justice-for-all character above its horror themes. Robert Hiltzik's "Sleepaway Camp" was a home video hit, being unique for its pubescent victims and themes of paedophilia and transvestism. "Sleepaway Camp" featured homosexual scenes, which were taboo at the time.


title: Slasher film

text: In Canada, whodunit "Curtains" had a brief theatrical life before finding new life on VHS, while criticism toward "American Nightmare"'s portrayal of prostitutes, drug addicts, and pornography addicts hurt its video rentals. "Sledgehammer was" shot-on-video for just $40,000, with a gender-reversal climax showing "Playgirl" model Ted Prior as a "final guy." Other home video slashers from the year include "Blood Beat," "Double Exposure", and "Scalps", the latter claiming to be one of the most censored films in history. Releases began to distance from the genre. The poster for "Mortuary" features a hand is bursting from the grave, though the undead have nothing to do with the film. Distributors were aware of fading box office profits, and they were attempting to hoodwink audiences into thinking long-shelved releases like "Mortuary" were different.


title: Slasher film

text: The public had largely lost interest in theatrical released slashers, drawing a close to the Golden Age. Production rates plummeted and major studios all but abandoned the genre that, only a few years earlier, had been very profitable. Many 1984 slasher films with brief theatrical runs found varying degrees of success on home video, such as "Splatter University", "Satan's Blade", "Blood Theatre", "Rocktober Blood" and "Fatal Games". Movies like "The Prey" and "Evil Judgement" were filmed years prior and finally were given small theatrical releases. "Silent Madness" used 3D to ride the success of "Friday the 13th Part III" (1982), though the effect did not translate to the VHS format.


title: Slasher film

text: "" brought the saga of Jason Voorhees to a close, with his demise the main marketing tool. It worked, with "The Final Chapter" selling 10 million tickets in North America, hinting the series would continue even if Jason's demise marked a shift in the genre. This shift was emphasized by the controversy from "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984): Protesters picketed theaters playing the film with placards reading, "Deck the hall with holly – not bodies!" Despite other Christmas-themed horror films, including the same year's "Don't Open till Christmas", promotional material for "Silent Night, Deadly Night" featured a killer Santa with the tagline: "He knows when you've been naughty!" Released in November 1984 by TriStar Pictures, persistent carol-singers forced one Bronx cinema to pull "Silent Night, Deadly Night" a week into its run. Soon widespread outrage led to the film's removal, with only 741,500 tickets sold.


title: Slasher film

text: As interest in the Golden Age slasher waned, Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" revitalized the genre by mixing fantasy and the supernatural in a cost-effective way. Craven had toyed with slasher films before in "Deadly Blessing" (1981), though he was frustrated that the genre he had helped create with "The Last House on the Left" (1972) and "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977) had not benefited him financially. Developing "A Nightmare on Elm Street" since 1981, Craven recognized time running out due to declining revenues from theatrical slasher film releases. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and especially its villain Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) became cultural phenomenons. On a budget of just $1.8 million, the film was a commercial success, grossing more than $25.5 million in North America and launched one of the most successful film series in history. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" provided the success that New Line Cinema needed to become a major Hollywood company. To this day, New Line is referred to as "The House That Freddy Built". The final slasher film released during the Golden Age, "The Initiation", was greatly overshadowed by "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (though both films feature dreams as plot points and a horribly burned "nightmare man"). The success of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" welcomed in a new wave of horror films that relied on special effects, almost completely silencing the smaller low-budget Golden Age features.


title: Slasher film

text: Despite "A Nightmare on Elm Street"'s success, fatigue hit the slasher genre, and its popularity had declined substantially. The home video revolution, fueled by the popularity of VHS, provided a new outlet for low-budget filmmaking. Without major studio backing for theatrical release, slasher films became second only to pornography in the home video market. The drop in budgets to accommodate a more economic approach was usually met with a decline in quality. Holdovers filmed during the Golden Age such as "Too Scared to Scream" (1985), "The Mutilator" (1985), "Blood Rage" (1987), "Killer Party" (1986) and "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" (1986) found video distribution. Mirroring the punk rock movement, novice filmmakers proved anyone could make a movie on home video, resulting in shot-on-video slashers "Blood Cult" (1985), "The Ripper" (1985), "Spine" (1986), "Truth or Dare?" (1986), "Killer Workout" (1987), and "Death Spa" (1989). Lesser-known horror properties "Sleepaway Camp", "The Slumber Party Massacre" and "Silent Night, Deadly Night" became series on home video. "The Hills Have Eyes Part 2" (1985) and "" (1985) were theatrically released but neither film was embraced like "" (1985), a sequel rushed into production. Distinguished by overtly homoerotic undertones, "Freddy's Revenge" became the highest grossing horror film of 1985 and inspired "dream" slashes "Dreamaniac" (1986), "Bad Dreams" (1988), "Deadly Dreams" (1988), and "Dream Demon" (1988).


title: Slasher film

text: Paramount Pictures released the parody "April Fool's Day" (1986) with hopes to start a sister series to its "Friday the 13th" property, though the film's modest box office run never led to a series. Three other spoofs, "Evil Laugh" (1986), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" (1986) and "" (1986), were box office disappointments; "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" sold just 2 million tickets while "Jason Lives" sold 5.2 million, both significantly down from their predecessors. Trying to cater the public of adult action thrillers that were popular in the 1980s, Sylvester Stallone's cop-thriller "Cobra" (1986) is a thinly-veiled slasher film advertised as an action movie, and sold 13.2 million tickets. The home video market made stars out of character actors such as Terry O'Quinn and Bruce Campbell, whose respective independent horror-thrillers "The Stepfather" (1987) and "Maniac Cop" (1988) found more support on home video than in theaters. Quinn returned for "Stepfather II" (1989) but chose not to reprise his role in "Stepfather III" (1992), "Destroyer" (1988), while Campbell followed a similar route with a cameo in "Maniac Cop 2" (1990) and no participation in "" (1993).


title: Slasher film

text: The "Nightmare on Elm Street" series dominated the late 1980s horror wave, with "" (1987) selling 11.5 million tickets in North America, and "" (1988) following another 12 million tickets. By comparison, "" (1988) and "" (1988) sold approximately 4.5 million tickets each, less than half of the "Elm Street" films. The personality-driven appeal of Freddy Krueger was not lost on filmmakers, as characters like Chucky and Candyman were given ample dialogue and placed in urban settings that had largely been ignored by the Golden Age. Chucky's "Child's Play" (1988) and its 1990 sequel sold over 14.7 million tickets combined, while "Candyman" (1992) sold a healthy 6.2 million. Both series fell out rather quickly, when "Child's Play 3" (1991) selling only 3.5 million tickets in North America and "" (1995) selling only 3.2 million.