You are funny Nick, I was just going to write "thank you Robert", after vowing that I would never stick my head up out of the weeds on this thread.
I think, though, that an acronym cannot merely be anything to which a pronunciation can be attached. It is supposed to a thing constructed like a real word, whose proununciation follows from the rules of the language in which it is written. Hence, scuba is an acronym, while SQL is not (we are requiring English pronunciation rules, not Hebrew or Arabic, here). I had never hear the term "sequelism" for expressions like AFD, but I was once told by a Scottish ship's first mate to refer to them as TLAs: Three Letter Abbreviations. Eric > 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) > > > > > ============================================================ > 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 > > > > ============================================================ > 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
