5 ms·

Despite the occasional hate, I think the main benefit of acronyms and initialisms is turning "improper nouns" into proper nouns. "Highly sensitive person" => HS

by alecbz 4y ago

Despite the occasional hate, I think the main benefit of acronyms and initialisms is turning "improper nouns" into proper nouns. "Highly sensitive person" => HSP, e.g. The fact that the acronym obscures is a feature; it prevents people from assuming it's a common noun.

smartscience 4y ago
Incidentally this is why I see no problem with phrases like 'PIN number', despite others apparently being very bothered by them. English does not use a macro preprocessor to expand acronyms.
- Bakary 4y ago
  Adding sounds to single-syllable words is also helpful to reduce ambiguity.
- samatman 4y ago
  Constructions like 'PIN number' and 'ATM machine' are just fine from a linguistic standpoint. Using them has class connotations, but that doesn't make them wrong.