Thank you Robert. I agree. An acronym should be pronounceable. If we
tended to refer to the (FDIC) as the "fuhdic", then it would be an acronym,
right? FICA is an acronym because we pronounce it.
Nick .
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University (nthomp...@clarku.edu)
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert J. Cordingley
To: fra...@rpi.edu;The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Sent: 1/28/2009 10:02:57 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] RANT: Acronyms
M2c (My two cents)... We should stick with: acronyms are words (names, see all
the other -onyms) made from initials e.g. Scuba, while intialisms are strings
(not recognized as words) made from initials e.g. FDIC. In either case, first
usage should be spelled out unless it has reached the vernacular or unless the
audience is guaranteed to be in the know. e.g. "the American Chemistry Council
(ACC) voted today to .... later the ACC condemned..." (There are over 70
different things ACC could stand for in Wikipedia.). Anything else is just
rude (according to my English teacher).
Robert
Matthew Francisco wrote:
i'm going to enter the danger zone for a second...
On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Nicholas Thompson
<nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote:
DANGER: RANT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Nobody should EVER apologize for not understanding an acronym. The purpose
of acronyms is -- present company exempted! -- to solidify an ingroup by
being unintelligible to outsiders. Once, just to tease, I named a program,
" MOTH" (=Myway Or The Highway) in a paper I submitted. The editor of the
journal did not say, "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT STUPID
ACRONYM? And, once the article was accepted for publication, I did not
have the chutzpah to admit that the name had been a joke. My shame.
ESCHEW ACRONYMS AND BUZZWORDS.
What about mispronouncing an acronym (I'm thinking of the times i get
outed for mispronouncing "SQL")? And what about words, for that
matter?
And are there any cases where one may want to add a little bit of
extra shaming/ingrouping? I guess, when should apologies be in order?
GESUNDHEIT!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--------------------------------------------------------
END RANT. END DANGER.
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University (nthomp...@clarku.edu)
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
