Minor things that bother you

[abefroman329]

Does the term 'lady friend' have the same connotation as 'girlfriend', or does it sound less casual?

This may help you to understand the distinction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE50uB9YL3A

[kphoger]

Best to just use the whole acronym ...

... the other letters in the acronym

Here's another minor thing that bothers me:  using the term 'acronym' to refer to something that isn't pronounced as a word.

OPEC is an acronym.  WTO is not.

acronym
noun
US  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/ UK  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/

an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/acronym

[webny99]

Actually, the letter "W" bothers me when used in abbreviations (especially when spoken), since "double-u" almost always takes longer to say than whatever you were trying to shorten.

And WTO is a case in point. Why shouldn't it just be pronounced "witto" (2 syllables) instead of "double-u-tee-oh" (5 syllables)?

[kphoger]

Actually, the letter "W" bothers me when used in abbreviations (especially when spoken), since "double-u" almost always takes longer to say than whatever you were trying to shorten.

And WTO is a case in point. Why shouldn't it just be pronounced "witto" (2 syllables) instead of "double-u-tee-oh" (5 syllables)?

Perfect example:  GSW.  It takes less time to just say 'gun shot wound'.

[JayhawkCO]

Actually, the letter "W" bothers me when used in abbreviations (especially when spoken), since "double-u" almost always takes longer to say than whatever you were trying to shorten.

And WTO is a case in point. Why shouldn't it just be pronounced "witto" (2 syllables) instead of "double-u-tee-oh" (5 syllables)?

Perfect example:  GSW.  It takes less time to just say 'gun shot wound'.

You mean Golden State Warriors?

[kphoger]

You mean Golden State Warriors?

no

[webny99]

Actually, the letter "W" bothers me when used in abbreviations (especially when spoken), since "double-u" almost always takes longer to say than whatever you were trying to shorten.

And WTO is a case in point. Why shouldn't it just be pronounced "witto" (2 syllables) instead of "double-u-tee-oh" (5 syllables)?

Perfect example:  GSW.  It takes less time to just say 'gun shot wound'.

You mean Golden State Warriors?

Ha, that was my first thought as well - although in that case, "dubs" is much shorter than both.

Come to think of it, why not just change the official spoken pronunciation of the letter W to "dub"?  The meaning of the word "dub" that we already have is a wonderful sort of irony: "to give an unofficial name or nickname to (someone or something)"

And "dub-tee-oh" has a nice ring to it.

[kphoger]

[1995hoo]

I can think of the occasional one that could be an acronym or an abbreviation depending on how someone says it. "HTSUS" is a good example. It stands for "Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States." Some people say it as a word (like "hits us"), others say it as a string of five separate letters.

[kphoger]

I once knew a woman from Murrieta (CA) who pronounced the name of the auto parts store as en-a-pee-a because, in her words, "Napa is valley in California".

[J N Winkler]

Best to just use the whole acronym ...

... the other letters in the acronym

Here's another minor thing that bothers me:  using the term 'acronym' to refer to something that isn't pronounced as a word.

OPEC is an acronym.  WTO is not.

acronym
noun
US  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/ UK  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/

an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/acronym

Wikipedia does not agree with you or the Cambridge Dictionary.  Personally, if I were copyediting and ran across an instance of WTO being described as an acronym, I would not request a correction.

Citing dictionary authority can be tricky:  there are ones out there that claim, e.g., a turnpike with full control of access cannot be a freeway.  Cue members of the Freeways in Los Angeles Facebook group claiming the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened almost three months before the Arroyo Seco Parkway, could not possibly have been the first freeway because tolls were levied.

[jeffandnicole]

Best to just use the whole acronym ...

... the other letters in the acronym

Here's another minor thing that bothers me:  using the term 'acronym' to refer to something that isn't pronounced as a word.

OPEC is an acronym.  WTO is not.

acronym
noun
US  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/ UK  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/

an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/acronym

Wikipedia does not agree with you or the Cambridge Dictionary.  Personally, if I were copyediting and ran across an instance of WTO being described as an acronym, I would not request a correction.

Citing dictionary authority can be tricky:  there are ones out there that claim, e.g., a turnpike with full control of access cannot be a freeway.  Cue members of the Freeways in Los Angeles Facebook group claiming the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened almost three months before the Arroyo Seco Parkway, could not possibly have been the first freeway because tolls were levied.

Wikipedia can be changed then to be in agreement.  Any reasoning should never use Wikipedia because of its editability.

[kphoger]

Wikipedia does not agree with you or the Cambridge Dictionary.  Personally, if I were copyediting and ran across an instance of WTO being described as an acronym, I would not request a correction.

Citing dictionary authority can be tricky ...

I don't think it's quite fair to say Wikipedia "does not agree".  It says it's a topic of debate.

Dictionary and style-guide editors are not in universal agreement on the naming for such abbreviations, and it is a matter of some dispute whether the term acronym can be legitimately applied to abbreviations which are not pronounced "as words", nor do these language authorities agree on the correct use of spacing, casing, and punctuation.

It is an unsettled question in English lexicography and style guides whether it is legitimate to use the word acronym to describe forms that use initials but are not pronounced as a word. While there is plenty of evidence that acronym is used widely in this way, some sources do not acknowledge this usage, reserving the term acronym only for forms pronounced as a word, and using initialism or abbreviation for those that are not. Some sources acknowledge the usage, but vary in whether they criticize or forbid it, allow it without comment, or explicitly advocate for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym#Lexicography_and_style_guides

[J N Winkler]

Wikipedia can be changed then to be in agreement.  Any reasoning should never use Wikipedia because of its editability.

Such edits generate an audit trail that can expose dishonest intent, but yes.  Merriam-Webster is an example of a resource, not editable by its ordinary users, that allows the term acronym to cover initialisms.

[kphoger]

If nothing else, this discussion has taught me that the non-word usage goes back to the term's earliest days, so maybe it won't bother me so much anymore.

[ZLoth]

The problem with abbreviations and acronyms is that you need to know what they mean. It's terrible in IT becase there is so many of them. Anyone know what l10n or i18n means? It's short for localization and internationalization .

[hbelkins]

If a couple were living together but not married, the census described that at POSSLQ, Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters, and you can see why that didn't catch on in general use.

Pronounced poss-lick, I can only assume.  Sounds like someone who has inappropriate relations with American marsupials.

I remember it being pronounced "possul-cue," and there was either a parody song or a comedy routine about it at the time, but my memory is hazy because it was a long time ago.

I do remember the term getting about the same amount of ridicule as "sanitation engineer" did for "garbage collector."

[Scott5114]

Best to just use the whole acronym ...

... the other letters in the acronym

Here's another minor thing that bothers me:  using the term 'acronym' to refer to something that isn't pronounced as a word.

How do you know I'm not sitting here saying it as "lullgibtic"? 

[kkt]

Best to just use the whole acronym ...

... the other letters in the acronym

Here's another minor thing that bothers me:  using the term 'acronym' to refer to something that isn't pronounced as a word.

OPEC is an acronym.  WTO is not.

acronym
noun
US  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/ UK  /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/

an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/acronym

Wikipedia does not agree with you or the Cambridge Dictionary.  Personally, if I were copyediting and ran across an instance of WTO being described as an acronym, I would not request a correction.

Citing dictionary authority can be tricky:  there are ones out there that claim, e.g., a turnpike with full control of access cannot be a freeway.  Cue members of the Freeways in Los Angeles Facebook group claiming the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened almost three months before the Arroyo Seco Parkway, could not possibly have been the first freeway because tolls were levied.

Different dictionaries have significantly different goals.  Some are trying to document how the language is actually used, warts and all.  Others are providing suggested usage for formal situations.  Most do a mixture of both, including informal definitions but labeling them as situational.

[Takumi]

I once knew a woman from Murrieta (CA) who pronounced the name of the auto parts store as en-a-pee-a because, in her words, "Napa is valley in California".

You've mentioned this before, and I remember finding out that she's technically correct, in that the auto parts store stands for "National Auto Parts Association" . Would I still look at her like she had three heads if she said it? Yes.

[Max Rockatansky]

I once knew a woman from Murrieta (CA) who pronounced the name of the auto parts store as en-a-pee-a because, in her words, "Napa is valley in California".

You've mentioned this before, and I remember finding out that she's technically correct, in that the auto parts store stands for "National Auto Parts Association" . Would I still look at her like she had three heads if she said it? Yes.

FWIW I don't know a single person in California who pronounces Napa or Napa Valley any different from how they do the auto parts store.

[J N Winkler]

Some British newspapers, like the Guardian, have a style convention of using title case for initialisms that are pronounced as a word, e.g. Aids rather than AIDS.

[ZLoth]

I once knew a woman from Murrieta (CA) who pronounced the name of the auto parts store as en-a-pee-a because, in her words, "Napa is valley in California".

The folks who live in the City of Napa would like a word, since they are part of the Napa Valley and Napa County. The name "Napa" was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose native people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries.

[roadman65]

Actually, the letter "W" bothers me when used in abbreviations (especially when spoken), since "double-u" almost always takes longer to say than whatever you were trying to shorten.

And WTO is a case in point. Why shouldn't it just be pronounced "witto" (2 syllables) instead of "double-u-tee-oh" (5 syllables)?

W is also the beginning call letter of a radio station east of the Mississippi River.😅

[SSOWorld]

I use SO pretty often. "Significant Other" .

See, for some reason I think of that term as rather passé.  Like maybe a term from the 90s?

For what it's worth, here are the results of a British survey from 2019:

While I do notice it when a heterosexual couple describe themselves as partners, I don't see the term as being particularly associated with the LGBTQIA+ community.  Especially with full nationwide marriage equality since 2015, it seems to me more common for gay guys to speak of husbands and lesbian women to speak of wives.

That's been my experience as well.  Yet, for whatever reason, the term still carries an LGB connotation to me–even if that isn't the way most people are currently using it.

Calling them "something else" might offend them.