Abbreviation or acronym?

[Susan48]

Contributors to this forum (including Peter) reflect common practice in using the terms abbreviation and acronym interchangeably, and everyone knows what is meant. Historically, though, there is a difference. An acronym is an abbreviation where the initial letters make a new word, as in LASER, RADAR, NATO, UNCLE (for those old enough to remember the 1960s television spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.). In other words, all acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations (such as DNB) are acronyms.

 

[peter]

You're right. The correct word for an abbreviation like 'DNB' is initialism which is a word you won't find in my newsletter.

 

[Susan48]

The correct word for an abbreviation like 'DNB' is initialism

I haven't come across that term before, so thanks!

 

[jorghes]

Often what then happens to acronyms is that people simply forget they were acronyms to begin with.

I explain it to my students as the acronym is pronounced as a word as opposed to the separate initials which make up an initialism.

The one I recently discovered was originally an acronym was spam (that and taser).

 

[peter]

I explain it to my students as the acronym is pronounced as a word as opposed to the separate initials which make up an initialism.

What about FIFA? It's an initialism that has become a word. Does that mean it is now an acronym?

The one I recently discovered was originally an acronym was spam

Are you sure that SPAM is really an acronym - no sign of that on the original 1937 packaging. Do you have to know that something is an acronym for it to be one or does it not matter?

And if someone invents a new word does it really matter whether they later come up with wording that turns it into an acronym? I suspect that TASER was reverse-engineered.

 

[jorghes]

What about FIFA? It's an initialism that has become a word. Does that mean it is now an acronym?

I pronounce FIFA as "Fee-Fa" which would make it an acronym for me, not a initialism.

As quoted from the Merriam-Webster: Some initialisms become acronyms by virtue of being spoken out loud frequently enough to become more like a word than a set of letters.

Are you sure that SPAM is really an acronym - no sign of that on the original 1937 packaging. Do you have to know that something is an acronym for it to be one or does it not matter?

There is a debate as to whether or not spam was a blend (from spiced ham) or an acronym from "Special Processed American meat" although I suppose that is a backformation. (If I'm quoting the OED, then they consider it a blend, so my bad!)

And if someone invents a new word does it really matter whether they later come up with wording that turns it into an acronym? I suspect that TASER was reverse-engineered.

It will always be an acronym regardless of whether or not people know it is - that is how it entered the English language and such, etymologically , it will remain an acronym. The OED recognises taser as an acronym, standing for Thomas Swift'S Electric Rifle - it suggests that it deliberately mimics "laser".

 

[peter]

It will always be an acronym regardless of whether or not people know it is - that is how it entered the English language and such, etymologically , it will remain an acronym. The OED recognises taser as an acronym, standing for Thomas Swift'S Electric Rifle - it suggests that it deliberately mimics "laser".

I don't recognise taser as an acronym because the person who came up with it clearly chose the name then came up with an explanation to fit. It's simply an invented name with a fake pedigree. Like TARDIS.

 

[At home in NZ]

I don't recognise taser as an acronym because the person who came up with it clearly chose the name then came up with an explanation to fit. It's simply an invented name with a fake pedigree. Like TARDIS.

Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.
Clever!

 

[Bob Spiers]

It will always be an acronym regardless of whether or not people know it is - that is how it entered the English language and such, etymologically , it will remain an acronym

My sentiments exactly. I care not how it originated - either as a chicken or an egg - whether an initialisation or as Peter puts it (reverse engineered). A rose by any other name is still a rose or should that be R.O.S.E (Roberts own solution explained) Sorry