Re: Acronymns (was Re: C-IPA underlying principles and methods)

Jake X wrote at 2003-02-25 20:17:22 (-0500)
 > I think you're confusing the word acronymn with the way an
 > acronymn.  The word acronymn, to my knowledge, simply refers to the
 > system of taking the first letter from each word in a multiword
 > phrase.  For example, 'Laughing Out Loud' becomes lol, from the
 > first letter of each word.  Those new letters, "lol," are an
 > acronymn regardless of how you pronounce it.

Not so.  It's only an acronym if it's pronounced as a word.  At least,
that's what a style manual will tell you.  I've read dictionary
definitions which allow such a use "loosely".  The term for
abbreviations formed from the initials of a phrase which are
pronounced individually, eg. "BBC", is "initialism".

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