| Title: | The Joy of Lex |
| Notice: | A Notes File even your grammar could love |
| Moderator: | THEBAY::SYSTEM |
| Created: | Fri Feb 28 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Jun 02 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1192 |
| Total number of notes: | 42769 |
After looking through a listing of topics concerning acronyms and
having decided that none of them addressed my particular issue, I
decided to create a new one. Mods, please feel free to move this if you
fweel it belongs elsewhere.
OK, so I'm involved in a "discussion" with another party on the proper
use of the terms "acronym" and "abbreviation".
It is my contention that an acronym is simply any string of letters
formed by taking the first letters of each word of the phrase that the
acronym represents. Prepositions included in the original phrase may or
may not be omitted from the acronym. I further contend that an acronym
doesn't have to be a pronouncable word in its own right.
For example, it is my contention that the following is true:
USMC (United States Marine Corps) is an acronym
SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) is an acronym
The other party holds that USMC is an abbreviation, but that SCUBA is
an acronym.
A quick informal poll around the office finds three others opposed to
my position but unable to articulate the rule they base their opinion
on, and none in support :-( .
I'd appreciate a discussion on this.
Cheers,
Jon
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1149.1 | JRDV04::DIAMOND | segmentation fault (california dumped) | Wed Jul 12 1995 18:40 | 15 | |
I believe that an acronym must be a word in its own right,
just as a synonym or antonym or homonym must be a word
and a pseudonym must be a name.
Thus to me, USMC is not an acronym and SCUBA originally wasn't,
though if scuba has entered dictionaries as a word then it might
be considered a self-referential acronym. [To take the latter
example one step further, EMACS is an acronym because it stands
for Emacs Makes A Computer Slow, proving that emacs is in fact
a word :-) ]
My question is about the "acro" part, whether it is acceptable
to use more than one initial letter of a word in the initial
phrase where desired to make the result a word, as some efforts
have done. Is that really an acronym?
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| 1149.2 | SMURF::BINDER | Father, Son, and Holy Spigot | Thu Jul 13 1995 07:27 | 14 | |
An acronym need not be a word "in its own right." It becomes one by
its creation. Unpronounceable abbreviations (USMC) are not acronyms;
pronounceable ones (DEC) are acronyms.
SCUBA was an acronym from the moment it was first pronounced as
SCOO-bah instead of S-C-U-B-A. Similarly, WAC is a valid acronym.
I know of no rule stating that an acronym is restricted to only initial
letters (RADAR == RAdio Detection And Ranging), and prepositions and
articles may be included (NIMBY == Not In My Back Yard) or omitted
(ROFL [ROFF-uhl] == Rolling On the Floor Laughing - also seen, however,
as ROTFL).
-dick
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| 1149.3 | Use-Mic? Uz-Mic? Who says you can't pronounce it? | wook.mso.dec.com::mold.ogo.dec.com::lee | Wook like book with a W | Sun Sep 17 1995 23:28 | 7 |
What about TANSTAAFL? There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. And SCSI? Wook | |||||