In the American retail trade, we have the same thing with UPC. It stands for Universal Product Code – that black ‘n white square with lines you find on every product with a 12-digit code below it. Nobody says, “what’s the UPC?” They always say, “What’s the UPC code?

And, to make matters worse, whenever I say “What’s the UPC” people always pause and look like they’re trying to figure out what I’m saying; like I haven’t finished my sentence, or something. It’s really odd.

Zed's right, UPC code is redundant, yet it has now become that specific term.