Aug 01, 2005As RFID enters the mainstream, perhaps the biggest question facing the industry is: How do you pronounce the acronym RFID? Some say ar-fid, which sounds like the bark of a very small dog. Others prefer rif-id. But that's a little too close to the sound of a frog. The correct, official, socially acceptable way to pronounce the acronym, as decreed by the world's RFID authority, is (drum roll, please): R-F-I-D.
OK, so how do you refer to several RFID tags? We hear people say RFIDs. But that doesn't make sense. It would be equivalent to saying: "I bought some radio frequency identifications." No doubt, you'll be able to buy people's RFIDs on the black market in a few years, but when we talk of multiple RFID devices, the proper locution is RFID transponders or RFID tags or RFID labels. Glad we got that settled.