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Subject: 
Re: What makes an acronym (was: Re: quick question)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf, lugnet.off-topic.geek
Date: 
Tue, 21 Mar 2000 10:44:48 GMT
Viewed: 
803 times
  
"Todd Lehman" <lehman@javanet.com> wrote in message
news:FrGuM6.6nH@lugnet.com...
In lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf, Tom McDonald writes:
[...] BayLTC or bayLTC is to be thought of as Bay Area Lego Train Club,
but that's technically not a true acronym. But BayLUG itself is not 100%
acronym either, [...]

Just a friendly nit to pick...  :)

Acronyms don't actually have to be words which come from only single • letters
(such as scuba = _s_elf _c_ontained _u_nderwater _b_reating _a_pparatus), • but
can actually pull multiple letters from words.

An acronym is "a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of
the successive parts or major parts of a compound term."[1]

--Todd

Well, as a card-carrying member of the organization that is the undisputed
king of acronyms, just thought I would throw in my 200 Won worth.

The Army now actually uses acronyms to describe acronyms, and the whole
letter jumble has gotten so complex that we publish reference manuals of
nothing but acronyms.  The best example I can think of off the top of my
head is DAMPS, which stands for DGM Antenna Mast Program/System.  DGM of
course stands for Digital Group Multiplexing.  I guess DGMAMPS is just too
hard to pronounce.  :)

It's interesting how the different services have taken different approaches
to acronyms.  The Army/Air Force tend to stick closely to the initial letter
method, while the Navy/Marine Corps like to use the initial syllable (e.g.,
SecDef for the Secretary of Defense, SecNav is left as an exercise for the
student).  There is more and more crossover as we operate more jointly, e.g,
CENTCOM (Central Command), ARCENT (Army Central Component), and the like,
and the mixture of CINCPAC (Commander In Chief, Pacific).


--
William A. Swanberg
CPT, SC
Commander, 229th Signal Company (TACSAT)
swanberg@msn.com



Message is in Reply To:
  What makes an acronym (was: Re: quick question)
 
(...) Just a friendly nit to pick... :) Acronyms don't actually have to be words which come from only single letters (such as scuba = _s_elf _c_ontained _u_nderwater _b_reating _a_pparatus), but can actually pull multiple letters from words. An (...) (24 years ago, 15-Mar-00, to lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf, lugnet.off-topic.geek)

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