# laser, maser, scuba... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2000, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929 "2000-12-04T10:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/41 "2000-12-06T23:23:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JoeyBlades \* > Actually, MODEM is considered an acronym. Most definitions for acronym say either the first character or first few characters of each word in a name or phrase. Yes, but what _modem_ really is the initial syllables of the words. So it could also be considered a blend. But most blends are the first part of one word and the last part of another such as SQUIGGLE = SQUIrm + wIGGLE. Lewis Carroll called these portmanteau words. So we need a new name for the combination of initial syllables. How about SYLAC for SYLlable + ACronym? There are several sylacs around: avgas, biopic, cyborg, moped, napalm, parsec, pixel, sysadmin, among others. > [@](#): > > What do you call those things that look like acronyms but are really meant to be pronounced as a series of letters and numbers yet configured to sound like words or phrases? Rebus. ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/42 "2000-12-07T17:54:57Z")
dtilque: > [@](#): > > So we need a new name for the combination of initial syllables. Perhaps, but I do note that a couple of references to the word acronym that I found, in fact, used MODEM as an example of an acronym formed from the first few letters of key words… > [@](#): > > Rebus. Hmm… A rebus is usually comprised of pictograms and partial words. Also a rebus is normally presented in the form of a puzzle… I’m not sure that’s a match. (I’m not saying you’re wrong, mind you). Any other suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/43 "2000-12-07T18:47:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Astroboy14 \* > \*\*What other acronyms have entered the language and become so ubiquitous that people have forgotten that they are acronyms? > \*\* Not acronyms, but interesting anyway – couple of corporate ones: Arby’s == RB’s == Roast Beef Exxon == Esso == S.O. == Standard Oil ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/44 "2000-12-07T19:39:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pochacco \* > Arby’s == RB’s == Roast Beef Not the case. See Arnold W.'s post in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=44912) for a debunking of that idea. > [@](#): > > Exxon == Esso == S.O. == Standard Oil The first part is somewhat misleading. Back in 1969 (I think), Standard Oil of New Jersey had a big project to rename the company. The new name was intended to be used everywhere they did business. And since they didn’t own the rights to the name Esso everywhere, the new name had to be distinct enough not to infringe on it trademarkwise. They considered lots of names, most of which were nothing like Esso. No doubt the resemblance help decide for Exxon, but the fact that no language they knew of spelled words with double X was also an important factor. It turns out that Maltese has double Xs, but Exxon doesn’t mean anything in Maltese, so that’s no problem. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/45 "2000-12-07T19:56:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JoeyBlades \* > Perhaps, but I do note that a couple of references to the word acronym that I found, in fact, used MODEM as an example of an acronym formed from the first few letters of key words… I agree that modem is technically an acronym, but it’s also technically a blend. It’s just that it doesn’t quite follow the usual form form of either of these kinds of words. Hence my suggestion that it represents a new class of word. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/46 "2000-12-07T22:35:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JoeyBlades \* > And of course ham is an acronym for Handheld Amateur Radio… Except that it isn’t. The best evidence is that it was adopted from the derogatory term for a poor operator, which dated back to landline telegraphy. (The American Radio Relay League’s page [Why it’s called ham radio](http://www.arrl.org/whyham.html) has some background information.) Also, [The Slang of the Wire](http://www.ipass.net/~whitetho/1902talk.htm#slang) section of “Telegraph Talk and Talkers”, from the January, 1902 issue of _McClure’s Magazine_, noted that: > [@](#): > > Like any other language, Morse has its _patois_–a corrupted version of the purer speech used by the inexperienced or by those to whom nature has denied the finer perceptions of timing and spacing. This patois might be called “hog-Morse.” … The original message had been transmitted by senders of hog-Morse, called technically “hams,” and the receivers had absent-mindedly recorded the words as they had really sounded. ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/47 "2000-12-07T23:10:04Z")
whitetho: > [@](#): > > Except that it isn’t. Well, perhaps it is **AND** it isn’t. HAM is certainly an acronym for Handheld Amateur Radio, though I acknowledge that it may not be the origin of the term ham as commonly used in ham radio. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/48 "2000-12-09T01:34:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > What is the oldest still-used acronym? Most of them are 20th century creations. This one is not in current use except maybe by historians, but it’s almost certainly the oldest in the dictionary: **SPQR** Senatus PopulusQue Romanus, the senate and people of Rome. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/49 "2000-12-09T05:26:04Z")
Did the Romans actually pronounce SPQR as a word? On a side note, would the early Christian use of “ICHTHYS” to denote Jesus count as an acronym? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/50 "2000-12-10T01:34:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mbh \* > Did the Romans actually pronounce SPQR as a word? Don’t know. For all I know, they could have just said the phrase when they saw the letters. But what is this hangup you (and others) have about the pronunciation of acronyms? Why does having a pronunciation that’s the same as a series of letters make it a non-acronym? It’s still a pronunciation. As far as linguists are concerned, an initialism like VCR is just as much a word as, say bandwidth. Perhaps more so, since more people know what a VCR is than what bandwidth is. The discussion on LED above indicates that some are pronounced as a series of letters by some people and with some other pronunciation by others. What’s the status of those? Acronym, initialism, both, or something else? Furthermore, as those rebus words **JoeyBlades** posted indicate, many words have a pronunciation the same as a series of letters. Are those not words because they are pronounced the same as a series of letters? ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2000, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/51 "2000-12-10T05:56:38Z")
flak = **FL** ieger **A** bwehr **K** anone Translates as “air defense cannon” or some such How many other foreign acronyms have penetrated the English language? (and I don’t buy that R.S.V.P. is an acronym) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929/52 "2000-12-11T01:14:42Z")
A few more foreign ones: Gestapo = GEheime STAatsPOlizei (German). Tokamak and gulag are Russian ones for which I will not produce the phrases being acronyzed. Kolkhoz is a Russian syllable acronym (sylac). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-maser-scuba/43929.md?page=2)