ok english majors, answer this

[Haywire]

me and a friend were debating acronym versus abbreviation. i said that only words can be abreviated, like mr. for mister; etc. for etceterra... he said that phrases can be abbreviated too.
also, i said an acronym was any reference using the first letters of the words making up the thing. NOW, NASA, are acronyms. We agreed on this.
however, he said that an acronm has to be pronounced like a word. it's not whether it CAN BE pronounced, but whether it is, in common usage. we pronounce NASA (na-sa), but we spell ACLU (we don't say "Ah-clue). so my friend says that ACLU is not an acronym.
what's the deal here? i'm too lazy to research it myself.

 

[alasdairm]

Originally posted by Haywire:
i'm too lazy to research it myself.
nice attitude you could have found the answer in less time than it took you to write the message!
from webopedia:
Acronym
"Technically, a word that is formed by combining some parts (usually the first letters) of some other terms. For example, modem is the acronym derived from modulator/demodulator. In everyday speech, the term is also used to refer to initialisms, which are combinations of letters representing a longer phrase. For example, CRT is an initialism for cathode ray tube. The difference is that an acronym is pronounced as if it were a word rather than just a series of individual letters."
for what it' worth, my favourite acronym is Scuba
alasdair
[ 10 March 2003: Message edited by: alasdairm ]

 

[*Venus*]

Abbreviations can be used for phrases as well. For example, Sil vous plait is abbreviated as SVP, or BYOB, bring your own beer, etc..