Abbreviations

All of them. I completely agree. Which is why arguing about how language
works is a bit like going to a restaurant and eating the menu.

Lets use language to argue about things we canget *really* worked up about

 

The problem of language has occupied philosphers for the last few hundred
years. It *always* comes down to semantics. It should be the ultimate 306
number.

 

So an abbreviation is a subset of Abbreviations? Sounds a bit woolly.
Anyway, **** the OED they ultimately dance to our tune and history will, I
think you'll find, vindicate us non-apologists. We'll just have to wait
around a few more years.

 

Done.

 

307?


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The speccy Geordie twat.

 

Nonsense. An "initialism" may or may not be pronounceable as a word
following the customary spelling rules of the language concerned. If
you say that this is irrelevant, then you fly in the face of history,
because the word "acronym" was coined, and entered into the OED,
specifically to represent an "initialism" that can be pronounced etc etc
etc.

And the definitions most certainly are still in general usage, just not
so much in newsgroups, the readers of which seem never to read anything
other than newsgroups %-(

Quite right. So the argument should be between "initialism" and
"abbreviation", with "acronym" being the initial letter/sylable one that
can be pronounced.

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Dave OSOS#24 Remove my gerbil for email replies

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My apologies for the omission, but I don't have access to the WWW OED
either myself, I just read the definition in a library last time I was
involved in a discussion such as this.

It doesn't appear in my microscopically reduced OED, neither in the body
nor in the supplement, so it is a term that was only entered in the OED
within the last 25 years or so.

To give it its due, if you do a Google you will find that current useage
is somewhat confused, with many people using it as synonymous with
abbreviation or "initialism" (sic). The Wikipedia account of the word
expresses this well. So although it was entered into OED with the
"pronounceable" definition, it has been used by many - many of whom
should have known better - as synonymous with abbreviation, perhaps
because it's a real sexy word, and they're plain ignorant tossers, and
couldn't be arsed to find out what it really, originally, meant. So
there's every chance that it will, at the end of the day, become
accepted as a synonym for abbreviation, and yet another word will have
to be coined to describe it :-( But for now OED means God!

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Dave OSOS#24 Remove my gerbil for email replies

Yamaha XJ900S & Wessex sidecar, the sexy one
Yamaha XJ900F & Watsonian Monaco, the comfortable one

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Dave Swindell

Here you go:

A word formed from the initial letters of other words. Hence as v. trans.,
to convert into an acronym (chiefly pass. and as pa. pple.). Also acronymic
a.; acronymically adv.; acronyming vbl. n.; acronymize v. trans.

1943 Amer. N. & Q. Feb. 167/1 Words made up of the initial letters or
syllables of other words..I have seen..called by the name acronym. 1947 Word
Study 6 (title) Acronym Talk, or 'Tomorrow's English'. 1947 Word Study May
6/2 Some new forms combine the initial syllables (resembling blends) instead
of initial letters, as in the case of Amvets (American Veterans'
Association)..but they still are in the spirit of acronyming. Ibid. 7/2
There has definitely been a speed-up in 'acronyming'. 1950 S. POTTER Our
Language 163 Acronyms or telescoped names like nabisco from National Biscuit
Company. 1954 Britannica Bk. of Yr. 1954 638/1 Typical of acronymic
coinages, or words based on initials, were..MASH (Mobile Army Surgical
Hospital). 1956 R. WELLS in M. Halle et al. For Roman Jakobson 665 Take the
WE counterpart of the SE expression to be acronymized (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization), and select from each word the first one or two or three
letters in such a way that the selected letters, assembled and regarded as
one word, will have a normal, pronounceable SE counterpart. 1967 Sci. News
19 Aug. 177/1 The TacSatCom, as it is acronymed, is a small-scale system
which should be in the field soon. 1971 Daily Tel. 3 Feb. 12 Has the
Establishment realised, inquires an acronymically-minded reader, that if the
Industrial Relations Bill becomes law, it will not be only Ireland that is
saddled with an IRA? 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 3 June 30 Nitrogen oxide,
acronymed NOx, is another of the plant's noxious by-products. 1981 Amer.
Speech LVI. 65 Byte is a fairly far-fetched way of acronymizing binary digit
eight. 1981 Maledicta V. 99 Who were the real 'ethnics', acronymically
speaking? 1983 Verbatim Spring 2/2 Paulies play puck (ice hockey) or hoop
(basketball, also acronymed to b-ball).

 

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the OED actually supports
Dave's argument. It may have Dave's definition of acronym only, but I
don't know. It does take the "language evolves" approach, though - in
contrast to Dave and Des. I think that tells you all you need to
know.

 

The problem with arguing about language is that language is all you can
argue about it with.

 

Also done.

 

while we're here, can I propose a new 306d?

every thread ends up with some Des bashing in it?


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What's your point?

 

tallbloke

-

 

You're trying waaay too hard now...

 

/

 

Ahem, what's that redundant comma doing there after 'opposite'.

Homer nods!

 

" "

8¬)

 

Another superfluous, and wrong, comma. This lesson in grammar from the man
who told us a few weeks ago:

"Whatever. I'm going on my own experience. Of course I haven't 'forgotten'
English; nor shall I ever. My 'prowess' if you can call that, as a native
speaker, has reduced dramatically in the past ten years or so."

I enjoy your stuff, Des, but you do tend to flog a dead horse, bury it, dig
it up, kick it around a bit, bury it again, dig it up, stick knives in it,
bury it once more, dig it up and then - in a last attempt to shoot the
maggot-riddled mess that's left - aim just a little bit own-footwards.

 

It's mandatory, there's always one on every course. The problem comes when
you can't spot the ****, it's probably you.