Ginnie Mae: Further on Acronyms vs. Abbreviations

[Laurence Horn]

>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

I'd go for pseudo-acronym, but (like faux acronym) it's already
taken, for the "POSH", "TIP", "F.U.C.K." genre.  So maybe
epenthesized acronym?  Could be there's an existing term, but if so I
don't know it.

Larry

>American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> writes:
>
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>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:
>>
>>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>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:
>>>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>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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