science

RAS syndrome

RAS syndrome is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand RAS syndrome rather than just read about it. In short: RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym in conjunction with the abbreviated form. This means, in effect, repeating one or more words from the acronym.

Key takeaways

RAS syndrome belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect RAS syndrome to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of RAS syndrome from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym in conjunction with the abbreviated form. This means, in effect, repeating one or more words from the acronym. For example: PIN number (expanding to "personal identification number number") and ATM machine (expanding to "automated teller machine machine"). RAS stands for "redundant acronym syndrome", making the phrase RAS syndrome autological. The term was coined in 2001 in a light-hearted column in New Scientist. A person is said to "suffer" from RAS syndrome when they redundantly use one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself. Usage commentators consider such redundant acronyms poor style that is best avoided in writing, especially in a formal context, though they are common in speech. The degree to which there is a need to avoid pleonasms such as redundant acronyms depends on one's balance point of prescriptivism (ideas about how language should be used) versus descriptivism (the realities of how natural language is used). For writing intended to persuade, impress, or avoid criticism, many usage guides advise writers to avoid pleonasm as much as possible, not because such usage is always wrong, but rather because most of one's audience may believe that it is always wrong.

Linguistics Although there are many instances in editing where removal of redundancy improves clarity, the pure-logic ideal of zero redundancy is seldom maintained in human languages. Bill Bryson says: "Not all repetition is bad. It can be used for effect ..., or for clarity, or in deference to idiom. 'OPEC countries', 'SALT talks' and 'HIV virus' are all technically redundant because the second word is already contained in the preceding abbreviation, but only the ultra-finicky would deplore them. Similarly, in 'Wipe that smile off your face' the last two words are tautological—there is no other place a smile could be—but the sentence would not stand without them." A limited amount of redundancy can improve the effectiveness of communication, either for the whole readership or at least to offer help to those readers who need it. A phonetic example of that principle is the need for spelling alphabets in radiotelephony. Some instances of RAS syndrome can be viewed as syntactic examples of the principle. The redundancy may help the listener by providing context and decreasing the "alphabet soup quotient" (the cryptic overabundance of abbreviations and acronyms) of the communication. Acronyms from foreign languages are often treated as unanalyzed morphemes when they are not translated. For example, in French, "le protocole IP" (the Internet Protocol protocol) is often used, and in English "please RSVP" (roughly "please respond please") is very common. This occurs for the same linguistic reasons that cause many toponyms to be tautological. The tautology is not parsed by the mind in most instances of real-world use (in many cases because the foreign word's meaning is not known anyway, and in others simply because the usage is idiomatic).

Examples Examples of RAS phrases include:

DC Comics ("Detective Comics Comics") HIV virus ("Human immunodeficiency virus virus") LCD display ("Liquid-crystal display display") UPC code ("Universal Product Code code")

See also Pleonasm § Bilingual tautological expressions Recursive acronym

References

External links The dictionary definition of RAS syndrome at Wiktionary

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with RAS syndrome

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what RAS syndrome claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to RAS syndrome before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about RAS syndrome ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of RAS syndrome

In research: RAS syndrome appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses RAS syndrome in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: RAS syndrome is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Acronyms, Linguistic morphology, Rhetoric, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for RAS syndrome outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study RAS syndrome in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what RAS syndrome means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain RAS syndrome out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is RAS syndrome in simple terms?

RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym in conjunction with the abbreviated form. This means, in effect, repeating one or more words from the acronym.

Why does RAS syndrome matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study RAS syndrome?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on RAS syndrome.