acronym

[sagehen]

>At 4:23 PM +1000 5/28/06, Prof. Roland Sussex wrote:
>>On acronyms, intialisms and related things:
>>
>>In Russian and many E. European languages under Communism there was a
>>vogue for formations like kolkhoz "collective farm" from KOLlektivnoe
>>XOZjajstvo. "PanAm" is in this category, also Comintern. The standard
>>term was "stump compounds". "Stump" is useful, since it gets away from
>>definitions of the syllable: one often takes CVC rather than CV to clip
>>the first component of the compound.
>>
>>"Clipping" is another relevant term, but another can of worms.
>>
>"Clipping" doesn't work for me, given its primary use for the "math",
>"bus", "za" class of simple truncations.  I like "stump", but it
>can't be "stump compound", because many of them are phrases rather
>than compounds.  I've used "clipronyms" as a nonce blend for
>classroom reference, but I'm not crazy about it and thought there
>might be a standard alternative.
>
>Larry
>
 If names like "Fannie Mae" & "Freddy Mack" (however they may be spelled)
are part of this class, "stump" or "clip" won't cover the problem.  Maybe
we should just give in and call them all "nicknyms."
AM
I do prefer to keep "acronym" for just those whose initials give something
pronounceable w/out added letters.


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