Talk:Acronym/Archive 1

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When using an acronym in a sentence, what is the general rule for proper use of the word "a" versus "an" that comes before use of the acronym? For example, the acronym "MOA" is what my company uses to abbreviate "Memorandum of Agreement". Which sentence is correct?

(1) The two responsible managers have not yet signed a MOA. (2) The two responsible managers have not yet signed an MOA.

Also, if you could provide reference to your source for correct use of "a" versus "an" with respect to acronyms, please provide it to me so I can share it with my fellow teammates.

Thanks, Trying to improve

preceding an acronym with the word "a" or "an"?See http://www.xrefer.com/entry/591114.

re ... in contradiction to the normal English rule for abbreviations, what rule are you talking about? I'm very tempted to delete this reference. Eclecticology, Monday, June 17, 2002

I kept that bit when I refactored today, but I don't know either. -- Tarquin

It means what it says: in English, the normal rule for making abbreviations is to use only the first letter of each word, and to ignore 'short words' such as prepositions and conjunctions. Matthew Woodcraft

Some issues:


 * quasar: the bolded letters do not match the acronym. Any idea?
 * Unesco, snafu: both entries in the 'pedia are capitalized. Which form is correct? - Olivier


 * Quasar isn't an acronym, it's more of a portmanteau: quasi-stellar radio source. UNESCO seems to think of itself as capitalized if its website means anything. Snafu and fubar are acronymic in origin, but like radar I've never seen them capitalized; both appear lowercased in the American Heritage Dictionary. Anyone got sources that show differently? --Brion

Is there a generic term for the words like: acronym, initialism, portmanteau ... ? - Olivier

There are a lot of people, including me, who would disagree that the definition of acronym includes only pronounceable words. Insisting on a definition of acronym that excludes initialisms seems like unnecessary bias. --Nohat 00:17 20 Jun 2003 (UTC)

http://www.bartleby.com/65/ab/abbrevia.html quotes the The Columbia Encyclopedia by saying: http://www.m-w.com says: 'http://www.dictionary.com'' says: http://www.askoxford.com/dictionary says: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ says: http://www.wordsmyth.net NOTE: all of the examples given within each definition are pronounced as words. Kingturtle 20:30 20 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * "Acronyms are combinations of the first letters/syllables in a group of words to form a new grouping of letters that can be pronounced as a word."
 * "a word (as NATO, radar, or snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term"
 * "A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women's Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging."
 * "word formed from initial letters of other words (e.g. laser, NATO)"
 * "an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word: AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome"
 * "a word formed by combining the initial letters or parts of a series of words in a longer phrase, such as scuba for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus"

First, there is no reason why a string of letter names read out in sequence would not be considered a word. IBM pronounced /aIbi"Em/ is no less a word than NATO pronounced /"ne4o/ (pronunciations in SAMPA). The distinction between how the phonemes used to pronounce an acronym are derived--from the names of the letters or from the sounds of letters--seems unnecessarily arbitrary. This is especially true when you consider the "mixed pronunciation" acronyms. Is JPEG pronounced /"dZepEg/ not an acronym because the first part of the pronunciation is the name of the letter? (J = /dZe/). Furthermore, some acronyms are pronounced in both ways, depending on the person or the context, like URL: /3`l/ or /juwAr"El/ and SQL: /"sikw@l/ or /Eskju"wEl/. Are they only acronyms when pronounced the former way?

Second, the article does mention that defining acronym as only being of the type like NATO is supported by some interpretations of dictionary definitions. However, limiting an article's content to only cover a restrictive dictionary definition is not the point of Wikipedia. Many words have meanings that are not covered in dictionaries but are covered in Wikipedia articles.

Moreover, usage of the broader definition of acronym is overwhelming. "Acronym Lists" invariably contain all types of acronyms, with the exception of a few lists compiled by pedants. Additionally, none of the definitions given above explicitly exclude acronyms like IBM; any perceived exclusion would be implied by use of the word 'word' and all examples' being of the NATO type.

Last, usage of a word in context is a far better measure than a dictionary definition of whether it means something in particular or not. Lexicographers mostly just try to capture the usage they have seen, not prescribe how a word should be used. Absence of a particular definition of a word is not necessarily tantamount to condemning such usage.

It should also be noted that most of the definitions given above would exclude acronyms like radar because they include non-initial letters, but no one has argued that they shouldn't be considered acronyms.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/TLA?view= says:
 * "The expression TLA does indeed stand for 'three letter acronym', and is itself an acronym of three letters." (Note: TLA is not pronounced /tlA/.)

http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/acronym says:
 * "An acronym is a label formed from the beginnings of words (Greek: acro [head] and nym [word]) -- or very rarely, from letters in the middle of words. There is no requirement that an acronym be pronounceable as a normal word (this is a curious myth perpetuated by American dictionaries): IBM is just as much an acronym as LASER."

The "Google Glossary" at http://labs.google.com/glossary says:
 * "Find definitions for words, phrases and acronyms. Examples: lymph node, DMZ, [...], CORBA, [...], ADSL, [...], EBITDA, [...], MPAA, Pocket PC, DTP, COGS," (terms and phrases elided)

http://www.wordsmyth.net/live/home.php?script=search&matchent=V-J+Day&matchtype=exact says:
 * "V-J Day. Pronunciation vi je de Definition 1. [...] (acronym for "victory in Japan")." (irrelevant portion of definition elided)

--Nohat 22:35 20 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Ha sanyone else noticed "false acronym syndrome" - the tendency of some companies to encourage everyone to write their names in capitals, as if they were acronyms. For example, ALSTOM and the new MINI? Andy G 04:01, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)

SteveBaker says that BMW chose to specify that their automobile and daughter company should be spelled in all-caps because they wished to avoid confusion between that vehicle and a previous car made by a company they owned. Hence MINI and Mini - still pretty amazingly confusing.