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I think people stop parsing ATM as an acronym and start parsing it as just the name of a thing. Which is understandable. When I see ATM I dont think ... I just

I think people stop parsing ATM as an acronym and start parsing it as just the name of a thing. Which is understandable. When I see ATM I dont think ... I just realized I forgot what the A and T stand for. Apparently automated teller? Perfect example I guess. As far as I'm concerned, ATM is just the name of the thing. And I parse it as such, so ATM machine isn't redundant since ATM doesnt point to "automated teller machine" in my mind. It just points to "ATM." I also find misuses of RAS syndrome fun. AAV vector isn't RAS syndrome. It stands for adeno associated virus vector. But people are eager to jump on whatever pedantry they think they can find, makes them feel smart I guess.

samatman 6y ago
I don't know that it's even RAS syndrome. Some machines have 'machine' in their name, most don't. A milling machine, yes, but who says lathe machine? ATM machine just sounds weird to me. The fact that the "M" stands for machine doesn't help but it's not decisive. That's what I mean by redundant: it's like saying spoon utensil.
- vikramkr 6y ago
  But for me ATM is like milling, it's a machine that has machine in its name. It's not like lathe, probably because I've grown up surrounded by people that call it an atm machine. You cant fight language after a point - there's a point where double negatives are grammatically incorrect, and there's a point where we are at now where wikipedia just classifies some dialects of english as having negative concord, where multiple negatives affirm (instead of contradict) eachother. Same way, at a point it probably makes more sense to talk about redundant acronyms as just a thing english does than try and say that a construction that a lot of people use and that everyone can understand is a grammatically incorrect thing. So ATM vs ATM machine becomes a dialect choice rather than some grammatical discussion, like British vs English spelling

samatman 6y ago

I don't know that it's even RAS syndrome. Some machines have 'machine' in their name, most don't. A milling machine, yes, but who says lathe machine? ATM machine just sounds weird to me. The fact that the "M" stands for machine doesn't help but it's not decisive. That's what I mean by redundant: it's like saying spoon utensil.

vikramkr 6y ago
But for me ATM is like milling, it's a machine that has machine in its name. It's not like lathe, probably because I've grown up surrounded by people that call it an atm machine. You cant fight language after a point - there's a point where double negatives are grammatically incorrect, and there's a point where we are at now where wikipedia just classifies some dialects of english as having negative concord, where multiple negatives affirm (instead of contradict) eachother. Same way, at a point it probably makes more sense to talk about redundant acronyms as just a thing english does than try and say that a construction that a lot of people use and that everyone can understand is a grammatically incorrect thing. So ATM vs ATM machine becomes a dialect choice rather than some grammatical discussion, like British vs English spelling