Re: An Acronym really? Maybe not...

Some more about this is that there is an acronymfinder ;) And it provides quite interesting results for PHP: http://acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=php :)) > Hehe whatis.com says this about acronyms: > http://whatis.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211518,00.html > > Summing up: > > - An abbreviation is a shortening of a word or a phrase. > - An acronym is an abbreviation that forms a word. > - An initialism is an abbreviation that uses the first > letter of each word in the phrase (thus, some but not > all initialisms are acronyms). > > So according to this, PHP is actually an initialism, > and pefectly not an acronym or not an abbreviation ;) > > Here is how dictionary.com defines initialisms: > http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=initialism > > This seems to be perfectly fitting PHP. And as we are > not correct, it would be nice from us to change the > 'acronym' status to 'initialism' status I think :) > > Here is another interesting thing about initialisms: > http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initialism > > | An initialism is an abbreviation formed by using the > | first letters, or initials, of a series of words, for > | example BBC or IBM. This is called an initialism when > | the letters are sounded out, as in the previous > | example, but it is called an acronym when the > | abbreviation forms a pronouncable word, such as NATO > | or AIDS. However, this distinction is often lost in > | common speech; most people call both types of > | abbreviations acronyms. > > So PHP is grammaticaly an intialism, but in common speach, > it can be called an acronym... > > English is a foreign language to me, and it is sometimes > funny to find out such things ;)) > > Goba > > > Hopefully you don't mean for us to say that PHP isn't an acronym, it's > > more of an 'abbreviation' :) Come on, we could get technical about a > > lot of things in this world, but it's a lot easier to just keep it the > > way it is, even if slightly wrong, than confuse a lot of people :) > > > > --Andrew > > > > On Tue, 2003-04-22 at 16:33, Aaron L Burgemeister wrote: > > > Acronym: 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 > > > > > > As noted above, NATO, radar and snafu are all pronouncable without > saying > > > "N-A-T-O, R-A-D-A-R, S-N-A-F-U", etc. So is PHP really a recursive > > > acronym or is acronym a word everybody likes to use to describe an > > > abbreviation? > > > > > > Just curious. > > > > > > Aaron > > > > > -- > > Andrew Lindeman <alindeman@php.net> > > > > >