acronyms versus abbreviations

[Wilson Gray]

Jim, are you pulling a Larry, trying to slip in a pun instead of
seriously asking for information? Bad boy! ;-)

FWIW, I once had a sumer job circumsising elephants for the St. Louis
Zoo. The pay was only minimum wage, but the tips were HUGE!

-Wilson


On 2/24/06, Landau, James <James.Landau at ngc.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Landau, James" <James.Landau at NGC.COM>
> Subject:      Re: acronyms versus abbreviations
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Mark Mandel wrote:
> >Back when I worked at Dragon Systems, I'm pretty sure that one of our
> references was a Dictionary of Initialisms=20
> >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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