RE: Proper definition for "acronym" (was A vs, an)

[Nancy Allison <maker -at- verizon -dot- net>]

Ah, one of my pet obssessions (as in, "Did I dream this? Wasn't this 
true once long ago?")

I learned there were three distinct categories of *shortened phrases*, 
for lack of a better term:

---Abbreviations: initial letters of a phrase, that do not create a word 
or word-like collection of letters. Example: FBI. BLM. CBS. etc., etc.

---Acronyms: initial letters that create a word or word-like thingy: 
RADAR, CREEP (my fave), etc., etc.

---I cannot remember! But there WAS one! Maybe it was for the word-like 
thingies (RADAR) and acronyms were only for real words (CREEP).


One of these decades I will trawl through a bunch of elderly reference 
books and see if I can find that original set of terms. I know there 
were three! I know it, I know it! (She said, shaking her blue-veined 
fists impotently) . . .

Gawd sometimes I feel so old.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing 
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or 
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat