Ask a French person to get back to you and they are unlikely to do so ASAP, reports The Guardian.
The abbreviation is the latest term to fall foul of the Gallic word police, the Académie Française, which says it is 21st-century rubbish.
The Immortals, as academy members are known, have published a damning condemnation of ASAP in their ongoing campaign to protect what is known as "the language of Molière".
"This abbreviation of as soon as possible, which is far from transparent, seems to accumulate most of the defects of a language that hides its contempt and threatening character under the guise of modern junk," the Académie writes.
"The use of French forms developed would be more appropriate and would not have this unpleasant character injunction. And there is a safe bet that the urgency of an application may be marked with more urbanity and the response would not be any slower."
Read more of this report from The Guardian.