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A Web Site's Traffic Soars
As Acronyms Proliferate;
Sorting Out 164 CATs

ESTES PARK, Colo. -- Do your MP3s get tangled in your BVDs? Have you confused an ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) with an ETF (Effluent-Treatment Facility)? Do you ever order a QPC (Quarter Pounder with Cheese) by mistake at KFC?

If so, you might want to check in with Mike Molloy, USAF, Ret. On the World Wide Web, he puts out an exponentially expanding dictionary consulted by bureaucrats, translators, doctors, weapons designers and anyone else who needs help decrypting the wide world's daily output of acronyms. Its HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is www.AcronymFinder.com -- AF for short.

Unlike acronym sites compiled automatically, AF is "human edited" by Mr. Molloy and his wife, Susan Ebert. Each morning, they settle into the kitchen-office of their home in this Rocky Mountain town and open their computers to a blizzard of new acronyms -- 200 a day, on average -- frequently emailed by the creators themselves.

Often blowing in as well are complaints from lawyers trying to register acronyms with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Listings on AF have repeatedly convinced USPTO examiners that some jumbles of letters are already in public use, if not public comprehension.

Ms. Ebert, 51 years old, and Mr. Molloy, 52, are dedicated to public comprehension. They have acronyms in their DNA, and Mr. Molloy has a rare gift for recalling what they stand for.

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