Abstractions Of Abstractions Of Abstractions

I received a message from my friend today:
"Thought of the day: Acronyms are abstractions, of abstractions, of abstractions--and they can go to hell."

It was a good thought, because I had to sit there and really put some mental energy into thinking about what it said. (Sure, I could have just asked my friend to explain it, but then I wouldn't have been using my brain, and that would be a waste.)

We have three levels of abstraction here, with the highest level being acronyms. So what is an acronym an abstraction of? At its most basic, an acronym is a term made by using initial letters to shorten a phrase. For example, SCUBA is a word abstracted from the phrase Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

But what is a Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus? This phrase may mean little to most people. It is itself an abstraction. It is a convenient phrase, well-known and commonly spoken. And although the words are self-descriptive to some degree, they are not terribly explanatory. "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" is what we say rather than provide a full explanation of what the apparatus actually does.

Suppose, though, that we unraveled the abstractions from "SCUBA" to an entire descriptive essay. That essay is still an abstraction of the physical device. Words and images may represent what the device is and how it functions, but that essay will not help you breathe under water. Only the physical device can do that. And that is the final abstraction - trying to encapsulate tangible things in words.

Acronyms truly are amazing, being nested abstractions to such a degree. The only way it could possibly worse is when we say things like "PIN Number", where the subsequent word is actually contained within the acronym. But I will save that discussion for another day.

P.S. To my friend, if I totally botched this up and misunderstood you completely, my apologies.  Feel free to correct me.