pete@stc.co.uk (02/20/86)
In the aftermath of the Challenger accident, I noticed that
many reports spelt National Aeronautics and Space Administration as
Nasa, rather than NASA.
This started me thinking about how long a probation an
acronym has to serve before it becomes a word. For example, radar has
been a word for at least 30 years, laser for 20 or so. NASA/Nasa
seems to be on the point of graduating.
Some acronyms, like RAF or USAF, seem never to become words.
Which are next? ROM and RAM would appear to be prime
candidates for promotion. Are some types of acronym more likely than
others? I think it likely that the easily pronounced ones change
status first.
--
Peter Kendell <pete@stc.UUCP>
...!mcvax!ukc!stc!pete
"Honesty's all out of fashion,
These are the rigs of the times"franka@mmintl.UUCP (03/06/86)
In article <837@bute.tcom.stc.co.uk> pete@stc.co.uk writes: > In the aftermath of the Challenger accident, I noticed that >many reports spelt National Aeronautics and Space Administration as >Nasa, rather than NASA. > > This started me thinking about how long a probation an >acronym has to serve before it becomes a word. For example, radar has >been a word for at least 30 years, laser for 20 or so. NASA/Nasa >seems to be on the point of graduating. > > Some acronyms, like RAF or USAF, seem never to become words. > > Which are next? ROM and RAM would appear to be prime >candidates for promotion. Are some types of acronym more likely than >others? I think it likely that the easily pronounced ones change >status first. I think this last is an understatement. The key seems to be whether the acronym gets pronounced as a word, or if the individual letters in it are pronounced. I have never heard RAF or USAF pronounced as "raff" or "yousaff". It may be that these pronunciations are used in some contexts, but they are certainly not universal. I will note that the Economist tends to print all acronyms with only the first letter capitalized. I'm not sure if this is common in England, or a peculiarity of that publication. Frank Adams ihnp4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka Multimate International 52 Oakland Ave North E. Hartford, CT 06108
dsn@umcp-cs.UUCP (Dana S. Nau) (03/11/86)
In article <1172@mmintl.UUCP> franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) writes: > ... >I will note that the Economist tends to print all acronyms with only the >first letter capitalized. I'm not sure if this is common in England, or >a peculiarity of that publication. A few years ago I had a paper published in IEEE *Computer*. Unlike most technical journals, they make lots of editorial changes in the papers they print. They had the following policy about acronyms: If a formal name was *really* an acronym (i.e., the initial letters of the words in some phrase), they would capitalize every letter (e.g., "KRL" for "Knowledge Representation Language"). Otherwise, they would only capitalize the first letter (e.g., "Lisp" for "LISt Processing"). As a result, they often insisted on capitalizing the names of computer systems differently from the way it had been done by the authors of those systems. -- Dana S. Nau, Comp. Sci. Dept., U. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 dsn@maryland seismo!umcp-cs!dsn (301) 454-7932
rajeev@sfsup.UUCP (S.Rajeev) (03/15/86)
> In article <1172@mmintl.UUCP> franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) writes: > > ... > >I will note that the Economist tends to print all acronyms with only the >first letter capitalized.... (or words to that effect). Excuse me, are we talking about the same "Economist"? I have my latest issue with me, and they sure have capitalized all of NASA, GATT, OPEC and every other acronym I could find...
albert@kim.berkeley.edu (Anthony Albert) (03/31/86)
It seems that IRA is becoming a word. I hear it both ways in the numerous ads on the radio (ira and I-R-A). Anthony Albert ..!ucbvax!kim!albert albert@kim.berkeley.edu