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> acronyms ... where you would normally pronounce the set of letters as a word If you wouldn't pronounce it, it's not an acronym
by SixSigma 10y ago
> acronyms ... where you would normally pronounce the set of letters as a word
If you wouldn't pronounce it, it's not an acronym
- cpncrunch 10y agoThe word acronym refers to both cases (pronounced as a word, and as a set of letters). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym#Nomenclature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym#Nomenclature
- earless1 10y agoAre FBI and CIA not acronyms?
- roflc0ptic 10y agoPedantically speaking, no. They're initialisms. Unless you call them the fibbies and the cya. In everyday conversation, yeah, they're acronyms.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> If you wouldn't pronounce it, it's not an acronym Unfortunately, "acronym" is widely enough used in the broader sense that includes initialisms that this broader and less-useful definition is a well-documented definition (remember that dictionaries are descriptive of language use, not prescriptive), though its certainly better and facilitates more clear communication to consistently distinguish between "acronyms" in the strict sense (those pronounced as words) and "initialisms" and other abbreviations, rather than using "acronyms" in a broad sense, but because of the conflicting definitions in use one must, until and unless the consistent use of the term renders the broader definition non-current and obsolete, expressly indicate that "acronym" is being used in that narrow sense when so doing, otherwise confusion is likely to ensue.