acronyms versus abbreviations

[Landau, James]

Mark Mandel wrote:
>Back when I worked at Dragon Systems, I'm pretty sure that one of our
references was a Dictionary of Initialisms 
>and Acronyms. I don't remember who published it.

I too remember that book.  A copy was in the (now-closed) FAA Technical
Center library.

Pronounceable acronyms/initialisms go wa-a-ay back.  The Old Testament
is referred to in Hebrew as "Tanakh", from "Torah" (Law), "Nebiim"
(Prophets), and "Ketubim" (Writings), those being the three sections of
the Jewish canon of Scripture.  I don't know when the shortened form
"Tanakh" was coined, but Jesus (of Nazareth, not Jesus ben Sirach who
made the Catholic but not the Jewish or Protestant canons) came close to
using it in the Sermon on the Mount:  "...not one jot or tittle of the
Law or the Prophets shall be changed".

Aside to Wilson Gray:  The existence of "neo-blaxploitation" filmmakers
implies that at one time there was a "Classic Age" of blaxploitation
films.  Correct?

      - Jim Landau

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How do you circumcize a whale?  You use four skin divers.

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