Acronyms

Podcast - "Acronyms."

In today's language, we're bombarded with acronyms. And every profession has its own unique list of them. ICYMI (in case you missed it), acronyms, and abbreviations are ways to shorten phrases and ideas both in normal speech and through texting and email.

But a common FAQ (frequently asked question) explains the nuanced difference between the two ways to save time LOL (Laugh out loud). So, what is the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation?

According to Lucie Turkel in a Readers Digest article, an acronym is a way of shortening a phrase by combining the first letter of each word to form a new pronounceable word.

A common acronym is NASA, which stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It's easy, to form the acronym NASA, you take the first letter of each of the words in the phrase "National Aeronautics and Space Administration" and then pronounce the collection of letters as a new word, which is why we pronounce the term as "Nah-suh" and not the individual letters "N" "A" "S" "A."

On the other hand, an abbreviation is also a way to shorten a phrase but with a slight difference. In general, abbreviations tend to shorten the word or phrase being referenced by literally shortening the word but not creating a new one.

For example, shortening the word "avenue" to "ave." is an abbreviation rather than an acronym because "ave." does not form a new enunciable word. Similarly, shortening the names of the months, such as "December" to "Dec." is also an abbreviation because when reading "Dec." out loud, you would just say the full term "December."

Seems simple enough, right? However, as with everything, there's a slight twist on this grammatical question. This brings us to our next point.

What's an initialism?

OMG (oh my god), have you never heard the term initialism? That's ok; not everybody has.

An initialism is another type of word and phrase shortening that is relatively similar to acronyms. Initialisms also use the first letter of each word in the phrase, but instead of combining the letters to form a new word, like NASA, you pronounce each letter individually.

An example of an initialism is the term VIP, which stands for "very important person." When saying VIP out loud, you don't say "VIP" but rather each letter, "v" "i," "p," making it an initialism.

Now, the real confusion comes when determining whether initialisms fall under acronyms or abbreviations. Since initialisms are like acronyms, many people say that acronyms are a blanket term that also covers initialisms, as yourdictionary.com points out.

However, other sources disagree. Merriam-Webster is one such source that defines initialism as "an abbreviation formed from initial letters."

Moral of the story? Don't get too bogged down on whether someone defines an initialism as an acronym or abbreviation.

At the end of the day, if you know the main differences between the three, you'll be seen as a grammar genius. And IMO (in my opinion), that's what matters.

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I'm Patrick Ball; thanks so much for listening. I'll see you in the next episode.

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