Ginnie Mae: Further on Acronyms vs. Abbreviations

[Barnhart]

Is there a name for an acronym not normally pronounceable, such as Ginnie
Mae (for GNMA), for which the letter enabling pronunciation have actually
been inserted?

Regards,
David

American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> writes:


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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Barnhart <barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Acronyms vs. Abbreviations
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I have found that in my wandering in libraries that  professional
>librarians have a rather consistent habit of calling any initialism or
>acronym--ACRONYM.
>
>For me, initialisms are made up of just the first letter of the words in a
>phrase, usually not pronounced (e.g. UFT or OED or PMS; but what about
>MSDOS or CD-ROM?).  An initialism that is pronounced as it seems it should
>be (e.g. NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an acronym.
>However, if people insist on inserting vowel sounds to make a string of
>letters, otherwise unpronounceable, wordlike (e.g. HMMWV and POSSLQ and
>R.C.R.A.), that becomes an acronym.  Acronyms can be made up of single
>letters or groups of letter jumbled together in the order they come in the
>phrase (e.g. DefCon).  However, I am not sure that they must all
>necessarily be only the initial letters.
>
>Regards,
>David
>
>barnhart at highlands.com
>
>American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> writes:
>
>
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Acronyms vs. Abbreviations
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>I'm with you, Margaret.  Real sticklers might distinguish NFL, NBA,
>etc.
>>as "initialisms."
>>
>>  When I learned this stuff as a young Piltdown man, an acronym was a
>>pronounceable "word," and an abbreviation was not. I always
>>thought that was a pretty simple rule.  Latterly, however, the
>>distinction has begun to fuzz.
>>
>>  JL
>>
>>Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
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>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Margaret Lee
>>Subject: Acronyms vs. Abbreviations
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Can anyone explain the _real_ difference (if there is one) between
>>acronyms and abbreviations. The _Introduction to Language_ text by
>>Fromkin and Rodman defines acronyms as "words derived from the
>>initials of several words," with examples such as NASA and
>UNICEF.
>>
>>However, they also say that "when the string of letters cannot be
>>easily prononced as a word, the acronym is produced by sounding out
>each
>>letter," with examples such as NFL and UCLA. I always thought
>that
>>if they could not be pronounced as words, they were just
>abbreviations,
>>not acronyms. In other words, my thinking is, all acronyms are
>>abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms. In _The
>American
>>Heritage Dictionary_, 'USMC' , for example, is listed as the
>>*abbreviation* (not acronym) for United States Marine Corps.
>Should/can
>>the two be used interchangeably?
>>Any thoughts on this?
>>
>>Margaret Lee
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
>>Professor of English & Linguistics
>>and University Editor
>>Department of English
>>Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
>>757-727-5769(voice);757-727-5084(fax)
>>margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu or mlee303 at yahoo.com
>>
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