Cool, a new acronym. I like it, and I’m glad it follows the rules. 
You’re learning. 
so many posts…
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It’s interesting that Omni is generally regarded as writing the best English on this site, and by a curious coincidence he also cares about maintaining standards. Could this attention to small detail have anything to do with excellence? Methinks it does.[/quote]
Omni may well be a champion of maintaining standards, but certainly not when he says:
[quote=“Omniloquacious”]An acronym is a pronouncable word. AIDs (or Aids, if you prefer), SARS, APEC and ASEAN are all good examples of acronyms.
A mere set of initials, such as the BBC, is not an acronym. You may call it an initialization or abbreviation, but not an acronym. [/quote]
He isn’t engaged in maintaining standards; he’s defining them to his own ends.
A basic problem with the English language is there are no ‘standards’ rather there are (often conflicting) sets of guidelines, the ever popular ‘common usage,’ but the most egregious of all - the linguistic experts.
Would there were a set of ISO standards for the English language. The French take heaps of ridicule for trying to maintain standards to stem the tide of language corruption. At least they’re trying. The best we can do with English is quote a couple of British universities and a couple of American newspaper edicts to establish any sort of credibility. No matter how eloquently and precisely we state our desires it doesn
That’s just it. Why do “we” (who is this we you’re referring to?) need to put acronyms aside for special abbreviations? And before you answer that, where is this definition of acronym that excludes WORDS like HTML, CD, DVD, etc.
Let’s look at a simple definition of acronym (if you don’t like mine, feel free to find another):
HTML IS a word now. CD is a word. DVD is a word. By definition of acronym these are all acronyms. So the language fascists need to fix their definitions, or agree with miltownkid.
And using the definition of word lets me say HTTP is a word, FTP is a word (“I’m FTPing it now”) etc. etc.
My point is, as the definitions of things stand now NO ONE can tell me I’m wrong for calling FTP, HTML, DVD, CD and even HTTP acronyms.
Is 1960 a word?
miltownkid eats language fascists for breakfast.
It’s interesting that Omni is generally regarded as writing the best English on this site, and by a curious coincidence he also cares about maintaining standards. Could this attention to small detail have anything to do with excellence? Methinks it does.[/quote]
I would say that the attention to detail definitely leads to excellence, such as your carefully brushed ponytail, which shows why you are usually acknowledged to be the most beautiful poster on Forumosa.
(Just looking to get in on this mutual ass-kissing society thing here. 
)
But will you accept HTTP on a Scrabble board? I think we can all agree that’s really the important issue at stake here
The definition I provided at Games Club yesterday is definitely right.
An acronym must be able to be pronounced (and not just by reading out the letters. Examples - LASER, SCUBA, AIDS, DOS.
Although I referred to things like UN, HTML etc as abreviations, it seems that it is common to refer to these as initialisations, and include initialisations and acronyms as subsets of abreviations.
The bottom line is acronyms must be able to be read as a pronouncable word.
Authoritive sources:
Webster:
webster.commnet.edu/grammar/abbreviations.htm
Chicago Manual of Style Q&A:
[quote]Q. I had always understood the term acronym to mean an abbreviation that spells a word, such as snafu (per Webster
What about
Why do “we” (who is this we you’re referring to?) need to put acronyms aside for special abbreviations? [/quote]
The “we” refers to people who write and who care about being able to describe and identify all manner of things with optimum precision – which also answers your question as to need.
Miltownkid, I believe you are being deliberately obtuse. If you really cannot see the difference between a set of letters that can be pronounced as a word (usually monosyllabic or disyllabic) and a set of letters that need to be spelt out one by one, then I suppose there is no way you will ever be able to appreciate the meaning and function of the splendid acronym.
And Gubo, no matter how many times you gleefully embarrass me by harping on about the e I carelessly omitted from pronounceable (which, I confess, was an egregious error), it does not in any way strengthen your arguments against the status of the unoffending acronym.
[quote=“OutofChaos”]How about the programming language SQL? With beginners it
I thought the rule was no abbreviations, which includes acronyms, truncations, etc. I guess the distinction becomes a bit hazy when an acronym becomes accepted as a word. eg Scuba is a word, S.C.U.B.A. is an acronym.
Anyway, I think Omni has satisfactorily wrapped this argument up. [quote]Miltownkid, I believe you are being deliberately obtuse. If you really cannot see the difference between a set of letters that can be pronounced as a word (usually monosyllabic or disyllabic) and a set of letters that need to be spelt out one by one, then I suppose there is no way you will ever be able to appreciate the meaning and function of the splendid acronym.[/quote]
A win for the language fascists. What did you have for breakfast this morning, MK?
Miltownkid mentioned a site where you can look up acronyms, I forget the name, maybe it was acronymfinder.com/about.asp#What
[quote]What’s an Acronym?
An acronym is a pronounceable word formed from each of the first letters of a descriptive phrase or by combining the initial letters or parts of words from the phrase. Here are some examples of acronyms:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization = NATO
MODulator/DEModulator =
MODEM
An acronym is actually a type of abbreviation. Our database contains abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms and we make no distinction between them in our database or on our site. We are more interested in defining “acronyms” for you than we are in trying to properly distinguish between abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms.[/quote]
“initialism” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well as “acronym”, maybe that is why the former is being replaced, incorrectly, by the latter. And that site listing everthing as an acronym doesn’t help, maybe “abbrieviationfinder.com” was taken, or again, doesn’t sound as good.
I can see why people would prefer to use the word “acronym” for any list of initials, but technically it’s not completly correct.
Ah yes, “initialism” is the right word. It seems to have been recently coined, as I have no entry for it in any of my dictionaries, including the 3rd edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, but it’s there in the online version of the 4th edition (published in 2000) as:
“An abbreviation consisting of the first letter or letters of words in a phrase (for example, IRS for Internal Revenue Service), syllables or components of a word (TNT for trinitrotoluene), or a combination of words and syllables (ESP for extrasensory perception) and pronounced by spelling out the letters one by one rather than as a solid word.”
Even more conclusive support for our case, if ever it were needed.
…
IBM
I do see the difference, but have yet to have been convinced that this isn’t all just language fascist propaganda. No one has provided me with a definition for acronym that would keep HTML (and others) out of acronym status. My point is you’ll just run around in circles trying to prove me “wrong”. I’m not saying your definition is wrong, but I’m saying that you’re wrong to call my interpretation of acronym wrong.
Cd IS a pronounceable word. People keep using NATO as an example and even that’s wrong (according to the fascists definition of pronounceable). If I were to “read” NATO, I’d say Nah-To, not Nay To. I’m no linguist, but scuba doesn’t seem to follow any “normal” reading rules either. Seems that the “correct” spelling should be scooba.
My point again. You can NOT prove that HTML is NOT an acronym.
Now what would you call JPEG? (your choice is between acronym and initialism, no playing the abbreviation card on this one).
Just so you know, I agree with having standards. It’s just that I believe the higher ups have overly confused this issue. It’s also funny that you mention initialism not being in your dictionaries as it is the older of the two words (acronym and initialism).
[quote=“Brain”]Chicago Manual of Style Q&A:
[quote]Q. I had always understood the term acronym to mean an abbreviation that spells a word, such as snafu (per Webster
BBL
Like tomato? I keep telling you yanks how to say it, but do you listen? No, you want it to rhyme with potato.
Which is it to be? Po-tay-to, NAY-TO, two-may-to or po-tah-to, NAH-TO, to-mah-to?
OT