Hey,acronyms here...get your red hot acronyms here...IMHO

I'm afraid I have to arrest you on a very common mistake.

Very few, if any, of the suggestions you present here are in fact acronyms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by limpidglitch 

I'm afraid I have to arrest you on a very common mistake.

Very few, if any, of the suggestions you present here are in fact acronyms.

Yeah, don't acronyms have to be pronounced the way they are written? :P 

My friends got me on that once.

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed 

Quote:

Originally Posted by limpidglitch 

I'm afraid I have to arrest you on a very common mistake.

Very few, if any, of the suggestions you present here are in fact acronyms.

Yeah, don't acronyms have to be pronounced the way they are written? :P 

 

My friends got me on that once.

Like "esse o el"?

Like NATO, I think.

I really love LQTM (Laughing Quietly To Myself), the honest version of LOL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed 

Yeah, don't acronyms have to be pronounced the way they are written? :P 

 

So things that can't be pronounced, like BBQ, TBH and AFAIK, are just simple abbreviations?

I believe so, I think that the word for those is 'Initialisms.' I don't think that there are actual rules, it's probably totally fine to call anything like that an acronym. It's just another way that teenage know-it-alls can try to be annoying.

I'm no teenager, but I can be a bit of a know-it-all at times.

Nobody will come and kill you in the night for calling, say YMMV, an acronym, but it will still be misnamed.

The definition is prety clear. An acronym is a word formed, usually, from the first letters of other words.

You may want to try to pronounce YMMV as a word, but I find it hard, and prefer to pronouce the seperate letters individually, or as the full un-abbreviated phrase.

Making, as logwed pointed out, Nato a true acronym. In fact initialisms and acronyms are often written differently to highlight how they are pronounced, like Unicef and laser, versus USA and UAE.

Ambiguous instances do occur, like ESA (european space association), where in norwegian there is no doubt that it is an acronym, but how a french/dutch/finnish… speaking person will pronounce it, I don't know.

Now, I do admit that this distinction is often ignored, even by dictionaries, but it doesn't make it less real.

No problem, and I like the idea of making some new acronyms, so I had a go.

TILWaC: Temporary Involuntary Loss of Wallet Control

EIMSI: Exaggerated Importance of Minor Structural Imperfections (e.g. the HD800 'squeak' or air bubbles in shell of custom IEMs)

RIMSI: Reduced… (e.g. the Grado discomfort. Often a side effect of aural bliss)

And a recursive backronym:

SANSA: Sansa Are Neat and Sensible Appliances.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HonestBlues 

Hey y'all...it was all just in fun and my attempt to be humorous.I know I stretched the definition of acronym but I am glad I could stimulate some good natured discussion.I spent so many years working on so many different Army helicopters,each type with it's own unique nomenclature,initialisms,and acronyms to be learned all over again every time I moved to another airfield or project.Kind of like learning my way around a new hobby and forum.

I dig you, I remember reading Tom Clancy books and being horribly confused by all the acronyms and contractions... Hard to imagine what real military lingo must be like.