Repetition

Just got off the phone activating my new (renewed) credit card. The first thing I found utterly amazing was the fact that a real live person answered. I've never activated a credit card through anything other than an automated system before. Now if they could just get their Customer Service department to answer the phone on the first ring like that . . .

Anywho, after activation, the girl went into the normal sales pitch. Did I want to get another card for someone else? Did I want their payment protection insurance? Did I need a PIN number? And that's when my pet peeve alarms went off. Fortunately, it's not enough of a peeve to where I commented to her, but now I'm going to vent here. I find it incredibly annoying when people use acronyms incorrectly. Or, specifically, repetitively. You see, PIN stands for Personal Identification Number. So when someone says "PIN number" what they're effectively saying is "Personal Identification Number number". Same thing with ATMs, when people refer to them as ATM machines (Automated Transaction Machine machine). But the most annoying thing about it is that I hear these misuses so often, that I find myself bungling it on occassion. I'm considering writing my Congresspeople and lobbying for a new law that says anyone who is caught misusing accronyms in a repetitious manner should get fined $5 by the person who catches them. Who'll sign the petition?