From: charlie@elektro.cmhnet.org (Charlie Smith)
Subject: RE: Nmeumonics test (bike related)
Organization: Why do you suspect that?
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 93 05:02:03 GMT


I've been watching the attempts to figure out what BMW stands for ...  8-)
and ran across the following on the ogri list.  Thought I'd pass it along
to wreck.moto so in case you ever wondered what some of these strange
combinations of letters really meant, you could have this as a handy
pocket reference.   You understand, you do have to keep this with you
if you expect it to really do you any good!


Charlie Smith   charlie@elektro.cmhnet.org  csmith@dsac.dla.mil  whois ces10
  DoD #0709   doh #0000000004  &  AMA, MOA, RA, Buckey Beemers, BK Ohio V
                BMW K1100-LT, R80-GS/PD, R27, Triumph TR6
                          Columbus, Ohio USA

........................................................................

>DOT     (Manufacturer)   
  Department Of Transport..er, oh, a manufacturer... erm, Dennis Oil Tankers?
  (the East German arm of Dennis Big Red Fire Engines, UK)

>BSA     (Manufacturer)
  Ah, I know this... British Small Arms (that explains the high 'bars...?)

>BAT     (Manufacturer)
  Ah, this'd be Bikes And Trolleys ltd, an early british company based in 
  Stoke who started out making trams in 1912, (the Stoke Trolleybus Company)
  then diversified into motor bicycles with a unique lateral treaded solid 
  rubber tyre specifically designed to cope with tramlines. 

>JAP     (Manufacturer)
  "Jordan's Alcoholic Pessaries", - they were outlawed by the government as
  part of a post (boer) war drive for a "healthier blighty", but the company's
  not inconsiderable assets were re-invested by a former director who had a 
  hankering to manufacture and sell a new self-powered coffee grinder - one
  of the junior sales representatives discovered that livening up his
  presentations by grinding gasoline-enriched coffee liberated much smoke, 
  noise and torque, and used his savings to modify the device to form a
  motorcycle power plant for racing. Originally conceived as a yet more
  elaborate marketing ploy (for coffee grinder sales were on the decline) the
  engine was a roaring success, and the rest is history as they say. They never 
  quite got around to changing the company name, feeling that the acronymic
  form gave them something of an advantage against the developing threat to
  their industry from the Orient.
 
>BMW     (Manufacturer)
  "Berghaussenshtadt Moggie WerKapputendefitzen" - an ever more elaborate
  range of cat exterminators, now available with two, three and four wheels,
  ABS ("AnchorButterSkidden") etc etc.
   
>NLG     (Manufacturer, TT racer)
  Norman Lloyd Gardiner - a great-great grand-uncle of Wayne, who's TT special,
  the Norman Flyer, rocketted to 112th place in the 1918 Manx TT, before 
  falling off it's centrestand and exploding (they used to allow nitro-methane
  fuel in those days) killing five spectators and its unfortunate owner. 
  Only 5 were built, three of them by his bereaved wife from spares left after
  his death. Of the five, three exploded spontaneously - the remaining 2 are 
  valued for their rarity but little sought-after due to the cost of insurance.
   
>JPN     (TT racer)
  Jean-Paul Nitsche, unsuccessful in his chosen career as a motorcycle racer,
  he turned to bar-room philosophy and inadvertantly became almost as unheard
  of as his famed namesake.

>NVT     (Manufacturer)
  Nippon Virtual Transport - formed in 1990 to market old Norton, Veloccette
  and Triumph models to people who they hoped would die before the company
  had to actually build any vehicles.

>AMC     (Manufacturer)
  American Motor Crushers, a car recycling concern

>HRD	(Manufacturer)
  Howard R. Davies, inventor and manufacturer of the v-twin miners lamp.

And what about all those other acronyms with more letters??

E.g. HMSO (Her Magesty's Saddle Ornament)
     CASE (Castrate a Software Engineer, motto of the RPG, Real Programmers
            Group)
     SACS (Serious Attempt at Creating Sales)
     YPVS (Yellow Peril Velocity Sustainer)
     DVLA (Dubious Villain in Leather Armchairs)
     NATO (Nuclear Arms for Terrorizing Others)

and all those other TLAs

     BSE (being Sold to Eat)
     EEC (***** **** ****)
     

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