[Ads-l] Spelling out pronounced acronyms

Benjamin Barrett mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM
Sat Aug 20 19:32:54 UTC 2016


> On 20 Aug 2016, at 12:02, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> 
>> On Aug 20, 2016, at 2:04 PM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> There are a handful of words, such as emcee, that derive from pronouncing out an initialism.
>> 
>> Lee Daniel Quinn (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__bit.ly_2bqAJcL&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=2B0zUmqBkuAzeQ71wG4ZGUdpzIf-TewWMbUZom2-a_4&s=XAsFYc56yJ04FMs2pHc3fRs-x9MjNDLoWvHkLDhYSCM&e= ) suggests on 4 January 2000 that such words be called vocologues. (Quinn also notes that “okay” does not qualify.)
>> 
>> On 4 January 2012, wim (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__bit.ly_2bF1v22&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=2B0zUmqBkuAzeQ71wG4ZGUdpzIf-TewWMbUZom2-a_4&s=GLuEjwYWkk5P87Ijx6LJ5SjnAQoHNMp3tXZJEDCdrNo&e= ) proposes the word acronomatopoeia. Sarah agrees with wim’s suggestion, and provides the following examples:
>> 
>> teevee < TV
>> emcee < MC
>> deejay < DJ
>> veejay < VJ
>> Jaycee < JC
>> jayvee < JV
>> okay < OK (contrary to Quinn above)
>> kayo < KO (knockout)
>> Arby’s (the fast food chain) < RB’s (Raffel Brothers')
>> 
> I thought it was > Roast Beef.  Go know!

Well, FWIW, I always thought it was some guy named Arby. BB
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