AOS (All Options Suck) (or, Stink)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Mon Feb 23 09:22:32 UTC 2004


   Sorry, but it's "stink" as well as "suck."  I don't know which came first.
  
  
(WORDSPY)
AOS 
abbreviation. All options stink; a situation in which there is no optimum or 
ideal course of action.

Example Citation:
"A new acronym has crept into the jargon-cluttered world of Washington. AOS. 
All Options Stink. It's a fair summary of the dilemmas facing George W Bush."
—Kate Ironside, "Why Bush has limited options for retaliation," Western 
Morning News, October 3, 2001 


Notes:
As the earliest citation shows, today's word is a brand new addition to the 
civilian lexicon, but it appears to have had prior use in military circles.


Earliest Citation:
"The question of how to battle terrorists in their remote and rocky Afghan 
havens has perplexed military planners in both the Clinton and Bush administrati
ons, some of whom share a darkly comic answer when asked about the war plan. 

'It's called AOS,' they say, using a barracks abbreviation for 'all options 
stink.'"
—"U.S. forces amassing, awaiting strike orders," New York Times News Service, 
September 30, 2001 
  
Subject Categories: 
Language - Acronyms and Abbreviations 
The World - Military 

Posted on October 15, 2001 



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