George E. Cawthon wrote:
RicodJour wrote:
George E. Cawthon wrote:
Initialism? Who coined this? It's still an
abbreviation even if only the intials are used.

An abbreviation in its strictest sense is merely a shortened form of
the word. An initialism uses the initial letters.

http://www.answers.com/topic/acronym-and-initialism

R

Then you shouldn't have included the link. It
says that acronyms, intialisms and alphabetisms
are abbreviations.

Abbreviations is a general classification and the others are more
specific. Abbreviations doesn't specify how the word was shortened,
the others do. I'm not sure how you could construe what I wrote to
mean something else, but as you did, I'll apologize for not being
clearer.

I've been retired for over 8
years so I may be behind the times. But, during
20 years of writing and editing, I never heard or
saw the word initialism.

Just because you haven't encountered something doesn't mean it doesn't
exist.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/initialism
http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texi...&Submit=Search
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/initialism.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/sear...ialism&x=0&y=0
http://www.askoxford.com/results/?vi...r=score%2Cname

Like I said in an earlier post, initialism was a new one on me, and I
thanked Steve for pointing it out.

R

RicodJour wrote:
George E. Cawthon wrote:
RicodJour wrote:
George E. Cawthon wrote:
Initialism? Who coined this? It's still an
abbreviation even if only the intials are used.
An abbreviation in its strictest sense is merely a shortened form of
the word. An initialism uses the initial letters.

http://www.answers.com/topic/acronym-and-initialism

R

Then you shouldn't have included the link. It
says that acronyms, intialisms and alphabetisms
are abbreviations.

Abbreviations is a general classification and the others are more
specific. Abbreviations doesn't specify how the word was shortened,
the others do. I'm not sure how you could construe what I wrote to
mean something else, but as you did, I'll apologize for not being
clearer.

Oops I lost track of the thread. My statement was
to Charlie Morgan. Then you answered and I
responded as though you were Charlie Morgan.
Sorry about that.

I've been retired for over 8
years so I may be behind the times. But, during
20 years of writing and editing, I never heard or
saw the word initialism.

Just because you haven't encountered something doesn't mean it doesn't
exist.

Sure it does.

Seriously, people that use abbreviations,
acronyms, and such don't have any reason to use
intialism or the more hideous alphabetism. They
just want the correct abbreviation. Pretty soon
we may have to discuss numberisms, symbolisms, and
capitalisms. Thank god capitalism is already used
for something else.

BTW, doesn't alphabetism mean using the alphabet?
Isn't that usually called writing? I see these
terms were used at the beginning of the last
century, apparently they died a needed death for
most American dictionaries. Silly word and phrase
usage is a real poke in the eye for me. Oh well,
I'll just shut up for now.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/initialism
http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texi...&Submit=Search
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/initialism.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/sear...ialism&x=0&y=0
http://www.askoxford.com/results/?vi...r=score%2Cname

Like I said in an earlier post, initialism was a new one on me, and I
thanked Steve for pointing it out.

R

On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:16:19 -0600, Mark Lloyd
wrote:

On 3 Nov 2006 05:34:05 -0800, "RicodJour"
wrote:

wrote:
Hi, I just wanted to find out how professsional electricians refer to
the National Electrical Code. Do they spell it out or do they
pronounce it "neck"?

People don't say oosa, fibbee, or niba. They say USA, FBI and NBA.
Same with the nec.



Unlike those, NEC does sound like a word. People often do say those as
words.

I grew up at the time of the Apollo program. They had a lot of those
initials that got pronounced as words, like Portable Life Support
System and Lunar Excursion Module that were usually pronounced "pliss"
and "limb".

I always pronounced that, or at least heard it as, lem!

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:41:38 -0500, mm
wrote:

On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:16:19 -0600, Mark Lloyd
wrote:

On 3 Nov 2006 05:34:05 -0800, "RicodJour"
wrote:

wrote:
Hi, I just wanted to find out how professsional electricians refer to
the National Electrical Code. Do they spell it out or do they
pronounce it "neck"?

People don't say oosa, fibbee, or niba. They say USA, FBI and NBA.
Same with the nec.



Unlike those, NEC does sound like a word. People often do say those as
words.

I grew up at the time of the Apollo program. They had a lot of those
initials that got pronounced as words, like Portable Life Support
System and Lunar Excursion Module that were usually pronounced "pliss"
and "limb".

I always pronounced that, or at least heard it as, lem!

At the time, I had trouble with the schwa sound. I guess I'm
remembering that.
--
49 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"God was invented by man for a reason, that
reason is no longer applicable."

On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 21:02:19 -0600, Steve Barker LT wrote:
It's not an acronym unless it's pronounced as a word. If spelled out, or it
doesn't make a word it's just an abbreviation.

Then you have the people who insist on being redundant. Some examples:
vin number
nic card
pin number

this drives me up a wall when people say these.


Ooh, yeah. ads on the radio lately around here, "Corey Barton Homes has
changed their name. Now they are CBH Homes!"

No, tell me it ain't so!!!!

sdb

--
Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

On 4 Nov 2006 11:20:11 -0800, RicodJour wrote:
If someone randomly interjects the initialism EMT, yes, I would also
think of ambulances and spurting arteries. But if I were talking to
someone about construction and electrical work, and wiring and related
materials in particular, EMT means conduit. It's impossible to be

Yes, but if you are more accustomed to one than the other, it will
always be heard (or read) first as the most typical for you. Of course
you will figure it out by context, but that comes later in the brain's
processing.

For example, I work where we talk a lot about "Print Quality" or as we
commonly refer, "PQ". Recently I was researching HDTV monitors, and
"PQ" there is obviously "Picture Quality." I had no problem
understanding what was being said, but my thought process was always
"print quality, NO! picture quality".

sdb

--
Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com