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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.netspace.net.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!uunet!in2.uu.net!194.87.0.28!demos!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.nacamar.de!news-kar1.dfn.de!news-fra1.dfn.de!news-ge.switch.ch!in2p3.fr!oleane!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!univ-bpclermont.fr!llaic!espel From: espel@llaic.univ-bpclermont.fr (Roger Espel Llima) Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list? Date: 4 Jun 1997 04:05:05 GMT Organization: LLAIC, Univ. Clermont-Ferrand 1, France Lines: 30 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <5n2phh$jda@cicsun.univ-bpclermont.fr> References: <5kd2ng$c8b$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de> <3390a559.4210811@news.dircon.co.uk> <3392FE4F.1667@att.com> <5mvqtk$ml6$1@nntp.Stanford.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: llaic.univ-bpclermont.fr Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45677 comp.os.linux.misc:178543 comp.os.linux.x:63361 alt.os.linux:21848 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3486 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:42270 gnu.misc.discuss:31606 comp.unix.solaris:108470 In article <5mvqtk$ml6$1@nntp.Stanford.EDU>, Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> wrote: >No, they're abbreviations. eff-bee-eye is not a word, except in some >programming sense in which it has white space on either side of it. > >The abbreviation for the United Nations is UN, pronouced you-enn; >it's not pronounced "un" as in "undecided." Therefore UN is an >abbreviation, not an acronym. tar is an acronym. webster doesn't seem to agree with your definitions: $ webster acronym ac.ro.nym \'ak-r*-.nim\ n [acr- + -onym (as in homonym)] : a word (as radar, snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term $ webster abbreviation ab.bre.vi.a.tion \*-.bre--ve--'a--sh*n\ n 1: the act or result of abbreviating : ABRIDGMENT 2: a shortened form of a word or phrase used for brevity esp. in writing in place of the whole in other words, taking the first letter of a bunch of words makes an acronym. shortening a word makes an abbreviation. Roger -- e-mail: espel@llaic.univ-bpclermont.fr, espel@unix.bigots.org WWW page & PGP key: http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/espel/index.html