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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!zdc!super.zippo.com!szdc!newsp.zippo.com!news2 From: eric@gadgetguru.com (Eric O'Dell) 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: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 17:00:02 GMT Organization: None Lines: 29 Message-ID: <339ed8b2.96555759@news.zippo.com> References: <337C64F0.41C6@cs.ucc.ie> <5lsbv4$id8@bmtlh10.bnr.ca> <3383FA57.4855@uab.ericsson.se> <EAMxy9.EF4@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <A01469D243A414B4.60EFD3C313DDF166.4A538EC778681837@library-proxy.airnews.net> <3396D1DD.6495@qanv.pbz> <339c2a14.7756419@news.zippo.com> <339DA050.3506@nowhere.man> Reply-To: eric@gadgetguru.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.0/32.390 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45968 comp.os.linux.misc:179948 comp.os.linux.x:64101 alt.os.linux:22144 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3549 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:42760 gnu.misc.discuss:31746 comp.unix.solaris:109320 On Tue, 10 Jun 1997 11:43:28 -0700, Woody <nospam@nowhere.man> wrote: >Eric O'Dell wrote: >> >> On Thu, 05 Jun 1997 07:49:01 -0700, Michael Sierchio <xhqmh@qanv.pbz> >> wrote: >> >> >Mike Ellis wrote: >> > >> >> If you read the above definition carefully, it begins with "a *word* >> formed from...", which certainly implies pronounceability, as do the >> two examples given. If an "acronym" is unpronounceable, then it is not >> an acronym at all, but a member of the more general class of >> abbreviations. >> >> E. > >if pronounceability is the defining property of a word then what is >"CTHULHU" ??? > >or maybe "NGNGAWIL" ??? Funny, but I don't have any problem pronouncing Cthulhu or Ngngawil. Or Nyarlathotep, for that matter. But, having used the MS WinAPI extensively, perhaps I have a bit more experience with names that can cause disaster merely by calling them. E.