NCPO orders another helping of alphabet soup
Once again the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has demonstrated its talent for choosing infelicitous nomenclature. It got off to a bad start right after the coup by calling itself the National Peace and Order Maintaining Council (NPOMC). To it
There seems to be a feeling among Thais that the more words you can squeeze into the name of an organisation, the more impressive that name will sound. This may be true in Thai, but not in English. In English, a long name merely sounds pompous. English likes conciseness.
What precisely is “strategic” about this committee? “Strategic” is ordinarily used in a military context. It does not belong in the name of this august committee, which hopefully will include a few civilians. So throw out “strategic”.
“Reconciliation” is redundant. If the “reform” is implemented wisely, reconciliation should follow naturally. So throw out “reconciliation”.
That gives us “the National Reform Committee”. But wait, we already have a National Reform Council. If that body’s mandate is about to expire, the new organisation should be called the National Reform Authority (NRA). That would distinguish it from the old National Reform Council and give it a new acronym, NRA. Only Americans will confuse that with their own National Rifle Association, and we don’t care what the Americans think. Calling the new organisation an “authority” will sound more impressive (and authoritative!) than calling it a council or a committee.
Ye Olde Pedant
