SAP (soon as possible)

“SAP” stands for “soon as possible.” “Sap—Soon as possible” was printed in the book The Phillips Code:
A Thoroughly Tested Method of Shorthand, Arranged for Telegraphic Purposes, and Contemplating the Rapid Transmission of Press Reports; Also Intended to be Used as an Easily Acquired Method for General Newspaper and Court Reporting (1914) by Walter P. Phillips.
 
“... and ‘sap’ means ‘soon as possible’” (Associated Press telegraph code) was printed in the Moberly (MO) Monitor-Index on August 21, 1923. “These services have grown from the Morse code, which used abbreviations like ‘sap’ for ‘soon as possible’” was printed in the Magnum (OK) Daily Star on October 9, 1935. “The telegraph company (Western Union—ed.) also has a private code for sending money orders, symbols for ‘fixed texts’ in greetings and a code for its own service messages. In the latter, for instance, SAP means soon as possible” was printed in the Hutchinson (KS) News-Herald on January 28, 1940.
 
“ASAP” (or “asap”) stands for “as soon as possible.” “A.S.A.C. As soon as convenient A.S.A.P. As soon as possible” was printed in Oral Hygiene: A Journal for Dentists in March 1920. “I attempt to bring it to you asap! (...as soon as possible.)” was printed in the Casper (WY) Tribune-Herald on May 22, 1946. “ASAP (...) ‘as soon as possible’” was printed in Newsday (Melville, NY) on February 21, 1951.
 
“ASAP” is used today, but “SAP” is rarely used. The letters are pronounced on both terms. The word “sap” has another meaning, so it is not used. “ASAP” is often pronounced with the long “A” and “sap.”
 
“ASAP—Always Stop And Pray” and “Awe shit man. I thought ASAP meant As Stoned As Possible” are other “ASAP” meanings. “People use ‘ASAP’ because they can’t spell ‘imijeatly’” is a related “ASAP” joke.
 
   
Wikipedia: ASAP
ASAP usually stands for “as soon as possible”.
 
Wiktionary: ASAP
Etymology
From the 1950s. First known use in a book of Captain Annis G Thompson, who was involved in the Korean War, The Greatest Airlift (1954). Originally used in the meaning “as soon as militarily possible” by military forces.
Adverb
ASAP (not comparable)
1. Initialism of as soon as possible.
 
Wikipedia: Phillips Code
The Phillips Code is a brevity code (shorthand) compiled and expanded in 1879 by Walter P. Phillips (then of the Associated Press) for the rapid transmission of telegraph messages, including press reports.
 
Overview
It was compiled in 1879 by Walter P. Phillips, who explained that he was in large part putting down the collective experience of generations of telegraph operators. In the introduction to the 1907 edition of his book, “The Phillips Code: A Thoroughly Tested Method of Shorthand Arranged for Telegraphic Purposes. And Contemplating the Rapid Transmission of Press Reports; Also Intended to be Used as an Easily Acquired Method for General Newspaper and Court Reporting,”
 
Google Books
The Phillips Code:
A Thoroughly Tested Method of Shorthand, Arranged for Telegraphic Purposes, and Contemplating the Rapid Transmission of Press Reports; Also Intended to be Used as an Easily Acquired Method for General Newspaper and Court Reporting
By Walter P. Phillips
New York, NY: Telegraph and Telephone Age
1914
Pg. 55:
Sap—Soon as possible.
 
Google Books
March 1920, Oral Hygiene: A Journal for Dentists, “The Practical Application of the Dental Hygienist in General Practice” by Walter E, Fancher, pg. 356:
A.S.A.C. As soon as convenient
A.S.A.P. As soon as possible
 
Newspapers.com
21 August 1923, Moberly (MO) Monitor-Index, “Tkg 15 Wrd Rp f Ap li No Easy Job Dcls Opr Hr,” pg. 3, col. 2:
... and “sap” means “soon as possible,” ...
(Associated Press telegraph code.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
9 October 1935, Magnum (OK) Daily Star, “World News Coverage Subject Of Speech by AP Chief in Oklahoma,” pg. 1, col. 6:
These services have grown from the Morse code, which used abbreviations like “sap” for “soon as possible” and “pow” for “Prince of Wales,” to the teletype which writes news on electric typewriters in hundreds of newspaper offices simultaneously with only one operator, on the sending machine.
 
Newspapers.com
1 November 1935, Tulsa (OK) Daily World, pg. 4, col. 2:
THINGS you will probably never need to know: In Associated Press messages, meant for office use only, FYI means for your information; TA—Tulsa; unfind—unable to locate; GA—go ahead; APC—appreciate; SAP soon as possible; DN—Dallas, and 30—the end. 
 
Newspapers.com
28 January 1940, Hutchinson (KS) News-Herald, “El-Tay-Am_Gray Reads Like Chinese? Don’t Fear Spies; Get A Code Book,” pg. 18, col. 7:
The telegraph company (Western Union—ed.) also has a private code for sending money orders, symbols for “fixed texts” in greetings and a code for its own service messages.
 
In the latter, for instance, SAP means soon as possible, PAU means present address unknown.
 
Newspapers.com
22 May 1946, Casper (WY) Tribune-Herald, “Daisy’s Shopping News and Cues,” pg. 4, col. 6 ad:
...and when it does, I attempt to bring it to you asap! (...as soon as possible.)
 
Newspapers.com
10 March 1948, Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune, “White Collar Girl” by Ruth Mac Kay, pt. 2, pg. 7, col. 2:
Perhaps some of these time-savers on publishing company teletypes might be added to the teletype abbreviations used on La Salle street:
 
OOT (out of town; SAP (soon as possible); ...
 
Newspapers.com
21 February 1951, Newsday (Melville, NY), “Car Buyers Clamor For Gadgets That Irked Them,” pg. 5, col. 4:
Like other showroom proprietors, this dealer, with a five-month waiting list for cars and few accessories with which to outfit them, is marking all his auto orders “ASAP.”
 
“We’re not,” he aserted, “maligning our customers. That’s our abbreviation for ‘as soon as possible,’ which means, depending on the headlines, you may get a car in two months or two years.”
 
Newspapers.com
20 July 1952, Houston (TX) Post, “Dirty Gertie No ‘C Slinger In New Oil Field DIctionary” by James A. Clark, sec. 4, pg. 3, col. 4:
She explains such terms as (...) asap (as soon as possible), ...