funsec mailing list archives
Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms
From: Nick FitzGerald <nick () virus-l demon co uk>
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:34:53 +1300
Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu to David Lodge:
Must... not... be... pedantic... Must... not... be... pedantic...DMCA is *not* an acronym. It's an abbreviation. An acronym can be pronounced (like radar, laser and NATO). DMCA cannot be pronounced (easily: DAM-ca? DUM-ca?) ergo it is not an acronym...If you're going to be pedantic, at least get it right: Feeding 'define:acronym' to Google finds this: word formed from the initial letters of a series of words. (eg, IEEE is an acronym for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/glossary.html
Oddly, the definition and example don't make sense together -- please tell me how the fuck you pronounce the "word" IEEE -- so I'd respectfully suggest that this example does NOT support your contention as it is, itself, internally inconsistent (I'd say, written by a semi- literate even).
Out of the 15 hits that gets, they all agree that a word is formed by taking the first letter of each word of the phrase, but only 3 or 4 get "pronounceable" as a critical part of the definition. Note that if there was an absolute requirement for words to be pronounceable, Worcestershire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire) would be ruled illegal due to having an incorrect number of syllables, and any loanword of Welsh origin would be taken out back and shot... ;)
I disagree further with your analysis. Several of the Googled definitions make no mention of pronuciation issues, per se, BUT seem to stress the fact that the combined grouping of initial letters _or_ (my emphasis) initial _few letters_ _form a word_. That, to me (as Dave), is the defining difference between an acronym and an abbreviation. IEEE is an abbreviation (unless I'm entirely unaware that it is normally pronounced "i-ee" or something, rather than "i-e-e-e" or "i- triple-e"). Also, some of the sources of your definitions that tend to suport the "pronunciation is not an issue" approach are rather less than definitive or schaolarly, whereas the more traditional "keepers of the language" tend to side with the abbreviation =/= acronym view. for example, Oxford (from my handy 8th edition Concise) says: acronym ... n. a word, usu. pronounced as such, formned from the initial letters of other words (e.g. Ernie, laser, Nato). ... And Wikipedia says: Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations such as NATO, laser, or DNA, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced based on this abbreviated written form. Of the two words, acronym is the much more frequently used and known, and many dictionaries, speakers and writers refer to all abbreviations formed from initial letters as acronyms. However, some still differentiate between acronyms and initialisms: an acronym was originally a pronounceable word formed from the initial letter or letters of the constituent words, such as NATO ... or RADAR ..., from RAdio Detection And Ranging, while an initialism referred to an abbreviation pronounced as the names of the individual letters, such as TLA ... or XHTML. [In both quotes above I've elided pronuciation and/or derivation notes because of their use of non-ASCII characters.] I'd add that, in my experience, well-educated folk are especially likely to make the "distinctly pronouncable" differentiation separating acronyms from abbreviations, and thus it is still a useful and meaningful disitinction despite lesser/lazier speakers failing to make/care for/etc the distinction. (Many nonsensical idioms become popular, but that doesn't make them meaningful or useful.) Regards, Nick FitzGerald _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
Current thread:
- UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Fergie (Jan 22)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms David Lodge (Jan 23)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 23)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Nick FitzGerald (Jan 23)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Dude VanWinkle (Jan 24)
- RE: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Gary Funck (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms der Mouse (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Nick FitzGerald (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 23)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms David Lodge (Jan 23)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Drsolly (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms David Lodge (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Richard Cox (Jan 24)
- Re: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms David Lodge (Jan 23)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: UserFriendly.org: Truth in Acronyms Willy, Andrew (Jan 23)