"Acronyms", "Initialisms", "Alphabetisms","Abbreviations" These are terms that are *supposed* to help us make sense of the confusing world of shortened names, but fail.
Most people use the term "acronym" to apply to the whole lot, but this always leads one uptight wordie in the room to object that the term only applies to abbreviations whose letters form a new word like "scuba" or "NATO", not to mere combinations of first-letters like "IBM", "CIBC", or "TLA".
So this list is a) a compilation of such terms, with the most authoritative definition I can find, and b) a modest proposal offering a new term that may help us clean up this mess (which is FUBAR IMHO). Or not.
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PossibleUnderscore
YES :-) Finally a list of all these things! Thanks denvan!
Jul 28, 2009
This is just wrong, since an acronym must at least be a "-nym", that is the name of something.
Jul 27, 2009
denvan
Clearest definition:
Noun: A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women's Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging. - American Heritage Dictionary
PossibleUnderscore YES :-) Finally a list of all these things! Thanks denvan! Jul 28, 2009
denvan Merriam-webster cops out on this one by adding the words "an abbrevition (as: FBI)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acronym
This is just wrong, since an acronym must at least be a "-nym", that is the name of something. Jul 27, 2009
denvan Clearest definition:
Noun: A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women's Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging. - American Heritage Dictionary
http://www.wordnik.com/words/acronym Jul 27, 2009