# It's not an acronym...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 14, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436 "2005-07-14T00:43:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/1 "2005-07-14T00:43:21Z")
…like NASA, which is pronounced as though it were a word, so what do you call something like NBC or FBI, which is pronounced letter by letter? It’s not really an abbreviation, either. What is it?
TIA!
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### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/2 "2005-07-14T00:47:16Z")
It’s an “initialism”.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/3 "2005-07-14T00:48:27Z")
They’re both called acronyms.
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### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/4 "2005-07-14T01:12:58Z")
This is one of those “it depends on whom you ask” issues.
The Phil Rubens tech writing style guide (which I like a lot) uses the term “initialism” as I noted above, separate from the term “acronym”. In contrast, for example, the APA publication manual (at least, the edition I have from several years ago) just uses the term “abbreviation”. I have no doubt that other guides would use the term “acronym”.
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### Author:  [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/5 "2005-07-14T01:15:57Z")
From [Mr. Webster](http://www.m-w.com/)
> [@](#):
>
> Main Entry: ac·ro·nym
> Pronunciation: 'a-kr&-"nim
> Function: _noun_
> Etymology: _acr-_ + _-onym_
> **:** a word (as _NATO_, _radar_, or _snafu_) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term; _also_ **:** an abbreviation (as _FBI_) formed from initial letters **:** INITIALISM
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/6 "2005-07-14T01:28:19Z")
What’s wrong with abbreviation?
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/7 "2005-07-14T02:03:15Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> What’s wrong with abbreviation?
Usually abbreviations have periods: viz., e.g. 😉
Thanks for the help, all – one of the editors in another department hit me with this as I was on my way out, and acronym just sounded wrong to me.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/8 "2005-07-14T03:25:33Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> They’re both called acronyms.
No no NO NO NO!
(Sorry, this is one of my pet peeves.) An acronym is pronounced like a word. “_-nym_” means “name.” NASA, Laser, Scuba and SMERSH all qualify. NBC, FBI and so on are initialisms, as has been pointed out. That doesn’t stop lots of people from calling them acronyma, though.
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### Author:  [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/9 "2005-07-14T03:35:37Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> No no NO NO NO!
>
> (Sorry, this is one of my pet peeves.) An acronym is pronounced like a word. “_-nym_” means “name.” NASA, Laser, Scuba and SMERSH all qualify. NBC, FBI and so on are initialisms, as has been pointed out. That doesn’t stop lots of people from calling them acronyma, though.
Sorry, but others disagree. Read the [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) definition Loopus posted. They define acronym broadly enough FBI qualifies.
[http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-49%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=define%3Aacronym](http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-49%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=define%3Aacronym)
[m-w.com](http://m-w.com) isn’t the only source that defines acronym this way.
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### Author:  [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/10 "2005-07-14T03:41:24Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> No no NO NO NO!
>
> (Sorry, this is one of my pet peeves.) An acronym is pronounced like a word. “_-nym_” means “name.” NASA, Laser, Scuba and SMERSH all qualify. NBC, FBI and so on are initialisms, as has been pointed out. That doesn’t stop lots of people from calling them acronyma, though.
Oh, come on. The meanings of words are defined by people, and those meanings are not set in stone. If enough people decide that “acronym” can also refer to initialisms like “FBI,” then it _does_. And, as I pointed out, the meaning of “acronym” that you revile has entered into common usage enough to make it into Merriam-Webster.
One of _my_ pet peeves is people considering word meanings to be immutable.
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### Author:  [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/11 "2005-07-14T03:50:26Z")
> [@Loopus](#):
>
> Oh, come on. The meanings of words are defined by people, and those meanings are not set in stone. If enough people decide that “acronym” can also refer to initialisms like “FBI,” then it _does_. And, as I pointed out, the meaning of “acronym” that you revile has entered into common usage enough to make it into Merriam-Webster.
>
> One of _my_ pet peeves is people considering word meanings to be immutable.
I’m the same way. I call “FBI” an acronym. I am familiar with the term initialism; however I just prefer to always call such cases acronyms. Language evolves.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/12 "2005-07-14T05:45:31Z")
The late television funnyman Red Skelton referred to the building where he worked as the “Cabeese.” He’d point to the sign on the top of the studio building, “CBS.”
I know that our language is a constantly morphing thing, but I like the older, narrower definition of acronym. If you can’t say it as a word, it isn’t an acronym. If you can play Humpty Dumpty with your definition, so can I.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/13 "2005-07-14T13:56:10Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> It’s not really an abbreviation, either.
No, it really is an abbreviation. Both acronyms and initialisms are types of abbreviations.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-an-acronym/312436/14 "2005-07-14T14:35:44Z")
Yeah, the guy who asked me said he was planning to go with “abbreviation.”
**shrug**