Making up acronyms

[J-Ri]

Lately, it seems as is peolpe have been making their own acronyms for stuff with no explanation of what the letters are. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE!?!?!?

Lets see how you do:
CPS: ____
ISM:____
ACF:____
BMR:____

Crankshaft Position Sensor
Idle Speed Motor
Auxillary Cooling Fan
Blower Motor Resistor

And those are just the ones I remember!!! Know what i think!?
TAAFSPAHTHNBWOCOEBAC!

yeah, figure that one out

[kublah]

My favorites are all the new diseases that each seem to have a 3 letter acronym associated with them. This might be because actually saying "Restless Leg Syndrome" just makes you sound like a jackass.

[J-Ri]

HEY! NOT FUNNY I have RLS!

haha, not really... well kindda... if you go by the symptoms in the commercial. But if you do that you probably have half the "diseases" out there.

[Steel]

Don't join the military! Or work for GM! They're notorious for that. They probably have a whole office dedicated to making up acronyms, then sending the paperwork to the engineers to make something to fit the acronyms!

[stieh2000]

GM is probbaly notorious like that becuase a bunch of the engineers came from my school, RPI (for some reason Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute doesn't roll off the tounge). Anyway, half our classes, buildings, clubs, and other programs are referred to by TLAs (three letter acronym) all the time. It's crazy. I would guess that other big engineering schools do the same.

[ericn1300]

I hate to sound like a pedant but after reviewing all the prior posts I didn't find a single acronym, just a bunch of abbreviations.

Word challenge for today: define the following

acronym

abbreviation

pedant

[kublah]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

I hate to sound like a pedant but after reviewing all the prior posts I didn't find a single acronym, just a bunch of abbreviations.

Word challenge for today: define the following

acronym

abbreviation

pedant

One of us is confused.

An acronym is a form of abbreviation made by using the first letters of a group of words that make up a phrase or name. RLS, GM, RPI, all acronyms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym

An abbreviation is any shortened form of a word or phrase. An acronym is always an abbreviation, but not all abbreviations are acronyms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbreviation

I have no idea what meaning we're supposed to derive from pendant.

"Look Mommy, it's a schooner!"
"You dumb bastard. It's not a schooner, it's a sailboat."
"A schooner IS a sailboat you stupidhead!"

[ericn1300]

An initialism is a type of abbreviation pronounced one letter at a time. For instance, PGA, AARP, IOU, etc.

an acronym is a type of abbreviation that is pronounced as a word. For instance, SCUBA, LASER, PUSH, etc.
from :http://www.acronym-guide.com/differe...reviations.php


There is a difference between acronyms and abbreviations. An acronym is usually formed by taking the first initials of a phrase or compounded-word and using those initials to form a word that stands for something. Thus NATO, which we pronounce NATOH, is an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and LASER (which we pronounce "lazer"), is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. FBI, then, is not really an acronym for the Federal Bureau of Investigation; it is an abbreviation. AIDS is an acronym; HIV is an abbreviation. URL is an abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator (World Wide Web address), but many people pronounce it as "Earl," making it a true acronym, and others insist on pronouncing it as three separate letters, "U * R * L," thus making it an abbreviation. The jury is still out. (I vote for Uncle Earl.)
from: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/gramm...reviations.htm


Wikipedia is free and worth every penny, but don't take it as gospel

[kublah]

Just used wiki to confirm what I had been told my whole life. But this certainly doesn't mean I'm going to start saying initialism, screw that...

[00accord44]

lolz

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by kublah

Just used wiki to confirm what I had been told my whole life. But this certainly doesn't mean I'm going to start saying initialism, screw that...

The Wiki definition is probably more in line with current usage but since I write for a couple of newspapers and freelance for magazines I have to stick to the style books and dictionaries they use or get beaten up by the editors.

Originally Posted by 00accord44

lolz

I had to look that one up and found this:

lolz


A term for LOL (meaning 'laugh out loud' in chat-speak), usually typed by mindless ditzes who can't speak right.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lolz

[J-Ri]

Huh... I guess I do learn something new every once in a while. I'm still going to call them acromyms...

[Oz]

YTFN - Why the fuck not?

[Mason_R1]

Originally Posted by Steel

Don't join the military! Or work for GM! They're notorious for that. They probably have a whole office dedicated to making up acronyms, then sending the paperwork to the engineers to make something to fit the acronyms!

I heard that! You can't go 5 minutes without hearing an acronym in the military. I only have two years left, I need to keep reminding myself..lol..just kidding I absolutely love it..

[72chevelleOhio]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

I had to look that one up and found this:
lolz


A term for LOL (meaning 'laugh out loud' in chat-speak), usually typed by mindless ditzes who can't speak right.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lolz

hey grammer police, is "ditzes" an actual word? I think its slang.. Also, wouldn't it be "can't speak well" not right? Besides, I doubt it was the personal attack you seem to take it as. Anyway if theres any diesel guys how about dpf, atd, repto, and itv.