I take issue with the baseball announcers I have recently heard talking of multiple “Runs Batted In” as just “RBI” instead of “RBIs” as in “Harper had three RBI last night.” I will stick with “Harper had three RBIs last night.”
Oh yes, that is very disconcerting! I hear this in business-speak sometimes too, and it always throws me off. MPs (Members of Parliament), POWs (Ps O W, really), and WMD (W's o' M D) are very good examples.
I appreciate being reminded of what each of these are called, but at least in my anecdotal experience ASAP is rarely spoken as its initials. It is always pronounced as a single word, ā-sæp
FUBAR and SNAFU are two of my favorites. Another way to tell an acronym is after a while it isn't capitalized; scuba, laser, fubar, and snafu are all examples...
OK, it turns out that I have two funny acronym stories.
When I was 10 years old, my new cousin was born. He has four names. His initials are N.A.D.S.
Being my 10 year old self, I tried to think of a nickname for him. That's when I put his initials together and announced at dinner that we could call him Nads. No one said anything and there was suddenly a heavy silence in the room. I didn't know why. I was only 10!
I don't know if that is truly an acronym, but it's still pretty funny. I'm sure he's heard it a million times in his life. Honestly, I don't know what his parents were thinking!
Oh, I was playing on the idea that you got away with calling your cousin a name that references genitals. Loki would be proud. I think I also had Loki on my mind because of what I entitled today's piece (about being a Loki in the kitchen).
Years ago, the department I was working in was going to host a workshop. After all of the content had been submitted by everyone, the person in charge gave it to me, as the admin, to review it for things like formatting and such.
(I should point out that she was pretty universally disliked and viewed as a bit of a bully.)
When I returned the binder to her, I had at least 20 things flagged. One of those things was the page entitled "Acronyms." As we reviewed the things I flagged, her face got redder and redder.
When we got to the "Acronyms" page, I said that even though it was a little picky, technically only some items on the list were acronyms and some were abbreviations. By the time I finished explaining the difference, she was so mad that her face was purple. It was glorious.
And I can assure you that the binder of materials was much more professional looking after I got finished with it.
Especially when it was coming from me and she thought that the materials were good to go. The content was spot on, but the document as a whole was sloppy as hell.
I say ASAP as Aye-sap. That's how the military does it anyway. I've heard it both as an initialization and an acronym.
I was pretty surprised to learn that DOJ, FBI, etc aren't acronyms! Kinda threw me down this rabbit hole in the first place.
IEnjdTdy’sP.
It's useful to know the difference between those two categories.
I was surprised I didn't know!
SNAFU or FUBAR?
Good acronyms!
I take issue with the baseball announcers I have recently heard talking of multiple “Runs Batted In” as just “RBI” instead of “RBIs” as in “Harper had three RBI last night.” I will stick with “Harper had three RBIs last night.”
Oh yes, that is very disconcerting! I hear this in business-speak sometimes too, and it always throws me off. MPs (Members of Parliament), POWs (Ps O W, really), and WMD (W's o' M D) are very good examples.
OWL= “One With Life”
Aha! Thanks for the clarification
I badly needed this.
A nested, recursive acronym -
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
GNU (GNU's not Unix)...
It's TURTLEs all the way down (Terrific Unusual Reality-Twisting Language Education).
I appreciate being reminded of what each of these are called, but at least in my anecdotal experience ASAP is rarely spoken as its initials. It is always pronounced as a single word, ā-sæp
FUBAR and SNAFU are two of my favorites. Another way to tell an acronym is after a while it isn't capitalized; scuba, laser, fubar, and snafu are all examples...
Good point about no longer being capitalized!
Bless you for pointing out the difference between abbreviations and acronyms! It's a pet peeve of mine. LOL
I bet I was one of those peevers!
OK, it turns out that I have two funny acronym stories.
When I was 10 years old, my new cousin was born. He has four names. His initials are N.A.D.S.
Being my 10 year old self, I tried to think of a nickname for him. That's when I put his initials together and announced at dinner that we could call him Nads. No one said anything and there was suddenly a heavy silence in the room. I didn't know why. I was only 10!
I don't know if that is truly an acronym, but it's still pretty funny. I'm sure he's heard it a million times in his life. Honestly, I don't know what his parents were thinking!
Ha! Well played. There's a little bit of Loki in you.
I know that Loki exists, but I don't get the reference. ???
Oh, I was playing on the idea that you got away with calling your cousin a name that references genitals. Loki would be proud. I think I also had Loki on my mind because of what I entitled today's piece (about being a Loki in the kitchen).
Of course, I didn't know that at the time, which makes it even funnier. LOL
Nah, but I do have a funny acronym story.
Years ago, the department I was working in was going to host a workshop. After all of the content had been submitted by everyone, the person in charge gave it to me, as the admin, to review it for things like formatting and such.
(I should point out that she was pretty universally disliked and viewed as a bit of a bully.)
When I returned the binder to her, I had at least 20 things flagged. One of those things was the page entitled "Acronyms." As we reviewed the things I flagged, her face got redder and redder.
When we got to the "Acronyms" page, I said that even though it was a little picky, technically only some items on the list were acronyms and some were abbreviations. By the time I finished explaining the difference, she was so mad that her face was purple. It was glorious.
And I can assure you that the binder of materials was much more professional looking after I got finished with it.
Some folks hate being told they're wrong even more than they hate actually being wrong. Isn't that crazy?!?
Especially when it was coming from me and she thought that the materials were good to go. The content was spot on, but the document as a whole was sloppy as hell.
Well I'll be damned!
I've always had the more simplistic version in my head:
Abbreviation = shortened word ("etc.," "apt.," and so on)
Acronym = any word formed from the capital letters of other words.
I never realized that "initialism" is a thing.
Curious thing to learn at the tender age of 42.
I, too, walked in the darkness for most of my life. We can only look forward! There's a light at the end of our abbreviation confusion tunnel.