Ad Homonym Attack [AARP & ARP]

Wall Street Journal ^ | Mar 17, 2004 | editorial

[The Raven]

That's homonym -- as in words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Which is just what's got AARP so hot and bothered about a new group calling itself ARP.

AARP, which formerly stood for the American Association of Retired Persons, is arguably the Beltway's most formidable lobby and a staunch opponent of plans to privatize Social Security. ARP is the moniker for the newly announced Alliance for Retirement Prosperity (www.arpnow.org). An umbrella lobbying group co-chaired by three big hitters -- former Congressman Jack Kemp, former GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former Social Security Commissioner Dorcas Hardy -- ARP champions a Social Security reform based on individual retirement accounts.

[Tax-chick]

A.R.P. also stands for Associate Reformed Presbyterian (Church). I pass one every week driving my daughter to her riding lesson ... one day I plan to look them up and see what they are, exactly.

And they mean "homophone" (word that sounds the same as another word - or acronym, in this case), not "homonym" (same word used in different ways.)

[Alas Babylon!]

ARP is also the address resolution protocol of TCP/IP. Without it your computer couldn't find the MAC address of the gateway or other computers on your network. If the AARP gets its way, networking worldwide will fail!