terms for words

[Mullins, Bill]

>
>It's an acronym. Acronyms are not restricted to the first letter. Many of
>the definitions use the term "initial element," which includes the first
>letter, the first several letters, and the first syllable. I don't know
>about earliest, but many military acronyms are based, at least in part, on
>initial syllables: SACEUR, Supreme Allied Commander EURope; NORAD, NORth
>American Air Defense command; PACAF, PACific Air Forces, etc.

The Navy is particularly bad about this.  COMSUBPACFLT (Commander, Submarine forces in the Pacific Fleet) goes back to WWII, at least.