20 July 2012

Actew, what does it mean?

| PantsMan
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In the maelstrom that is the kerfuffle about ACTEW Water’s (read “our”) $2.5 million bill for rebranding, I was somewhat taken aback by Mark Sullivan’s pronouncement that ACTEW Water had now branched out into neologism.

As the Crimes reports, in dismissing criticism of the rebranding, Mark boldly declared:

[quote]”Actew is just a word for us, it’s not an acronym any more,”[/quote]

So, Actew is a now a word, but what does it mean?

This newfound desire to have ACT Government acronyms attain word status, and presumably be attributed some meaning, opens up all manner of possibilities. Presumably TAMS, ACTPS, ACTPOL are also words, however, I think I might need the assistance of Rioters to discern what they, and other ACT Government acronyms, mean.

Suggestions?

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A large proportion (more than half) of the water we extract is returned to the Murrumbidgee in the output of the sewage treatment plant.

To also keep things in perspective, the total water we extract represents less than 0.5% of the water flow in the ‘bidgee.

gooterz said :

ACTEW are bloody stupid… If the ACT takes 100% of the water from the river then everyone downstream will have less water.

Profound.

gooterz said :

If the ACT takes 100% of the water from the river then everyone downstream will have less water.

ACTEWally; if the ACT takes 100% of the water, everyone downstream gets none. Not less.

Well any rainfall downstream of us would continue to flow.

“In fact it’s very common for a company to incorporate it’s corporate heritage into a new name, and in doing so retain brand familiarity and loyalty” (says c_c)

Actew is fully owned by the ACT ratepayers through the ACT Government. It is not a “real” company in the sense that its directors have paid for the shares or risked their own money as a normal company/directors/shareholders do so the name change thing doesn’t really apply to a government agency which is what Actew essentialy is.
Mind you, when a federal government agency changes its name this is considered a moment of great progress for them and much hoopla is written about it in the annual report.
It’s a bit like pissing yourself while wearing a dark suit namely it gives you a warm feeling but no one else notices.

gooterz said :

ACTEW are bloody stupid

They think that because they have a new damn they can use all the water they want.

Dam that new Damn!

ACTEW are bloody stupid

They think that because they have a new damn they can use all the water they want. Yet the ACT is just one part of the water system. If the ACT takes 100% of the water from the river then everyone downstream will have less water. I’m sure our dam isn’t the only one.

On the cost side. The costs went up when we used less water so ACTEW could still get their greedy profits. Now the water is back they want to keep the costs the same so they can make more. Where is the regulation on price?

Imagine if petrol did the same thing, it goes up so you pay more. It goes down, (petrol company says screw you i’m gonna change my name and make a better profit). Then it goes up again and the seller puts the price up again.

Just because ACTEW can make money doesnt mean they should there should be a limit on profit and things like frivolous rebranding should killed. Have we even got the increase to pay for the dam yet? or is that still coming?

I thought ACTEW had already become an acronym for Another Cost To Expand Wildly.

2.5mil is a lot of rebranding just to tell me my water bill is next on the list.

”Actew is just a word for us, it’s not an acronym any more,”

It may be a word to those within ACTEW, but to the taxpayer it is still an acronym. The cotter dam expansion brings this one to mind: Another Cost To Explode Wildly.

screaming banshee6:30 pm 20 Jul 12

It worked well for Exxon too.

Get over it PantsMan. NRMA Insurance, nib Health Funds, BHP Biliton – what ACTEW has done is far from rare. In fact it’s very common for a company to incorporate it’s corporate heritage into a new name, and in doing so retain brand familiarity and loyalty.

Perhaps if you’d done some research, or just used Google, you would have found far worse examples of companies coining new words – Orica for example, which is a completely made up word.

Actew, what does it mean?

It means it gets results you stupid chief!!!!!

Now we’re thinking dystopian, how about:

‘A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man? Me? I won’t stomach them for a minute.’

‘The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not. No, no, it’s not books at all you’re looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us. Of course you couldn’t know this, of course you still can’t understand what I mean when I say all this.’

Ray Bradbury (RIP) Fahrenheit 451

His vision of the walls of houses covered with giant screens has actually come true!

Wouldn’t call it a word, but it is most certainly a brand these days rather than an actual acronym. Another case in point is EFTPOS. So have no issue with Actew Water.

jimbocool said :

At least Actew Water stops the ATM Machine/PIN Number style redundancy.

Saw one of the recent crumpledores with SIDI Direct Injection on it. [/fail]

Keep that up and you’ll be in room 101…

Thanks for this PantsMan.

Well we don’t call Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation LASER any more, we don’t call RAdio Detection And Ranging RADAR anymore, nor do we call Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus SCUBA any more. They are laser, radar and scuba these days. At what point did they stop being acronyms?
At least Actew Water stops the ATM Machine/PIN Number style redundancy.

Holden Caulfield12:02 pm 20 Jul 12

Very good jb, Winston Smith was the other name I considered when registering here way back when.

The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten.”

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