Clearly not as catchy as GWOT, but it had the singular virtue of more accurately describing the battle, some officials felt. Then Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld even used the GSAVE abbreviation publicly. But, in a White House meeting, President Bush ruled that it was still a war for him, and Rumsfeld went back to GWOT.

The newest front in the abbreviation conundrum is in Iraq. The administration is setting out to rename its closest Shia ally, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the most powerful Shia parties, which changed its name a few months ago. SCIRI, in what some observers saw as an effort to distance itself from its Iranian mentors, decided in May to drop the word “revolution” from its name and to become known as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC). But SIIC, or “sick”, is not an appealing name for winners.

It’s even more unfortunate since its leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is suffering from lung cancer. No matter. Administration officials are mulling a more appropriate name, even though the organisation and everyone else calls it the SIIC. One possibility under consideration is calling it the Supreme Council of Iraq — SCI, or “ski”.

Some officials refer to it as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq — ISCI, or “iskey”. We were told that people just seem to be confused about what to call it. Well, the policy’s a bit confused, so ...