Comments on: Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words

By: PreciseEdit

PreciseEdit — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:23:09 +0000

FYI: Forgot this earlier

By: PreciseEdit

PreciseEdit — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:24:56 +0000

Sandy-You’re right about education using many acronyms, often to the point that non-educators may not understand what he or she is reading. This is a communication issue and reflects a larger problem of not considering readers’ needs.

Sometimes, even the “spelled out” version doesn’t do much for comprehension. Using your examples, “ELL” is the acronym for English Language Learner. But what is an “English Language Learner”? Those not “in the know” may assume that this is any person who does not have a perfected knowledge of the English language, which is everyone.

More to the point, though, is how these acronyms are used in speech and writing.

“ELL” is stated as letters, not as the word sound “L.”

“SpEd” is stated as a single word.

The acronym for Physical Education is stated as letters: “P.E.” Actually, “P.E.” adds another level of complexity because it is always spelled with periods, unlike many other acronyms that have become part of the English lexicon. For example, “scuba” is no longer spelled “S.C.U.B.A.” Perhaps if P.E. were pronounced as a word (rhyming with “pea”), the periods would drop out of the common spelling.

“LEA,” the acronym for “Local Education Agency” (i.e., school district), could be pronounced as a single word, but it isn’t, nor is it typically spelled out with periods.

This might make an interesting socio-linguistic study for a graduate dissertation.

By: Leisureguy

Leisureguy — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:43:08 +0000

Why are some acronyms spelled with lower-case letters? For example, I’ve seen “Nato” in the NY Times, of all places.

By: cmdweb

cmdweb — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:49:49 +0000

It’s amazing the different approaches to this. I always call those that are pronouncable as words ‘acronyms’, whereas I refer to initialised abbreviations as just ‘abbreviations’.
I come from a military aerospace background and the number of abbreviations and acronyms is astounding – the sector is littered with TLAs (Three Letter Abbreviations). I once printed out a compiled abbreviations document (yes, a document which was purely page after page of abbreviation lists) that ran to over 100 pages for a single recon aircraft project.

By: TFP

TFP — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:55:50 +0000

Great post. I never knew that there was actually a name for initialisms.

We use acronyms and initialisms all the time in my line of work (air traffic controller). An airplane I’m working may request any of the following:

* ILS approach (Instrument Landing System) – Pronounced I-L-S. A precision approach that gives both vertical and lateral guidance.
* TACAN approach (TACtical Air Navigation) – Pronounced Tak-an. A non-precision approach that provides only lateral guidance.
* Holding over a VOR (VHF Omni-directional Radio Range) – Pronounced V-O-R. A type of navigation aid that connects airways.
* GPS navigation (Global Positioning System): Satellite-based, commonly used navigation system. Pronounced G-P-S.
* PAR approach (Precision Approach Radar): Pronounced P-A-R. An approach where the airplane is ‘talked down’ to the runway by a controller watching them on a special scope.

We also use both VHF (Very High Frequency) and UHF (Ultra High Frequency) radios to communicate with our aircraft, though we commonly refer to them as Victor and Uniform on the frequency.