Short takes: INITIALISM

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:36 AM -0500 3/31/10, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>Of possible interest too (for abbreviations in speech/writing): "K9
>Corps" (canine), "Q8" (Kuweit), and "snafu/fubar"
>
>Gerald Cohen

Right, I mentioned the "snafu" and "fubar" type of military acronym
as precursors in that 2002 posting, but I hadn't remembered "K9" or
known about "Q8".

LH

>
>________________________________
>
>Message from Laurence Horn, Wed 3/31/2010 9:17 AM:
>
>
>Not counting "O.K." and other jocular abbreviations from that period,
>as documented in detail by Allen Walker Read, I assume.  Possibly
>O.K. is the only one from those years to have survived (as opposed to
>e.g. "K.Y." for 'know yuse', i.e. 'no use', and others of that kind),
>but one of my favorites (as posted here a few years back) is "b4" for
>'before'.
>
>LH
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org