@ruth I live in the US, but in my part its a common abbreviation for "in case of emergency" (more common than reference to the agency you describe, by a long shot, but again, I think that's based on my local demographics)

@Maenad @Craig This makes sense, but I've also never heard that phrase abbreviated that way. I'm wondering if maybe we can consider when it's necessary to use as an abbreviation (considering we have 666 or whatever characters). But I'm also not someone in danger from them, I just find it very jarring probably because of where I've lived.

@ruth @Maenad I agree to an extent. I had no idea what it stood for in your context, but now I understand that it doesn't have the best connotations (especially considering present conditions).

I'm afraid it's probably not going to change though, being quite well established in both cases.

@Craig @Maenad I think I figured out what's got me freaked out about it -- the idea of getting ahold of someone's personal info "for ICE" is like ... the most horrifying thing I could think of doing to a person because of how I first associate the acronym. I think that's it.

@ruth @Craig that is very fair

@ruth @Craig @Maenad I know that would be my first response to. "You want me to *what*?" It doesn't translate as 'for emergencies' in my head. That concept is better labeled 'Just In Case' for me.

@ruth @Maenad I see your point.