On Sun, 17 Jan 2010, Bob Rosenberg wrote:
> At 13:23 -0800 on 01/15/2010, Thierry Koblentz wrote about Re:
> [css-d] [OT] RE: <u></u> - why did it have to die?:
>
> >I don't agree.
> >RADAR is an acronym because you're not supposed to spell the letters.
> >CPU is an initialism, because you are supposed to spell the letters.
> >
> >Considering CPU (or else) as both an acronym and initialism would
> >allow two different pronunciations.
>
> Initialisms are a subset of Acronyms - IOW: All Initialisms are
> Acronyms since both stand for the initial letter(s) of a phrase
> ("RAdio Detection And Ranging" and "Central Processing Unit"
> respectively). The way the string is pronounced determines where an
> Acronym is also an Initialism. The pronunciation does NOT prevent a
> Initialism from being an Acronym.
You have that backwards. Acronyms are a subset of initialisms; not
all initialisms are acronyms.
--
Chris F.A. Johnson <http://cfajohnson.com>
===================================================================
Author:
Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)
Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell (2009, Apress)
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