I will disagree with Larry's disagreement: ARMA is not an acronym either,
> though it was for many years for at least two different names. Nor is AIIM
> for that matter.
WHAT a surprise!! (not) =)
As for the opinion that ARMA and AIIM aren't acronyms either, I offer the
examples and text below for others to draw their own conclusions.
Larry
From Wikipedia (a favorite folklore source of information for some)
*Acronyms* and *initialisms* are
abbreviations<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbreviation>,
such as *NATO <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO>*,
*laser<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser>
*, and *IBM <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM>*, that are formed using the
initial letters of words or word parts in a phrase or name. Acronyms and
initialisms are usually pronounced in a way that is distinct from that of
the full forms for which they stand: as the names of the individual letters
(as in *IBM*), as a word (as in *NATO*), or as a combination (as in
*IUPAC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUPAC>
*).
Acronyms pronounced as words may be a 20th century phenomenon. Linguist
David Wilton in *Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends* states that
"forming words from acronyms is a distinctly twentieth (and now
twenty-first)-Century phenomena. There is only one pre-twentieth-century
word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue only for a short time in
1886. The word is *colinderies* or *colinda*, an acronym for the Colonial
and Indian Exposition held in London in that year.
Initialisms are used most often to abbreviate names of organizations and
long or frequently referenced terms. The armed
forces<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military>and government agencies
frequently employ initialisms (and occasionally,
acronyms), perhaps most famously in the "alphabet
agencies<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_agencies>"
created by Franklin D.
Roosevelt<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>under the
New
Deal <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal>.
The most common capitalization
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization>scheme seen with acronyms
and initialisms is all-uppercase (
all-caps <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps>), except for those few that
have linguistically taken on an identity as regular words, with the
acronymous etymology of the words fading into the background of common
knowledge, such as has occurred with the words
*scuba<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuba>
*, *laser <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser>*, and
*radar<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar>
*.
In some cases, an acronym or initialism has been redefined as a
nonacronymous name, creating a
pseudo-acronym<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-acronym>.
For example, the letters making up the name of the
SAT<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT_college_entrance_test>(pronounced
as letters) college entrance test no longer officially stand for
anything. This trend has been common with many companies hoping to retain
their brand <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand> recognition while
simultaneously moving away from what they saw as an outdated image: American
Telephone and Telegraph became AT&T
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T>(its parent/child, SBC, followed
suit prior to its acquisition of AT&T and
after its acquisition of a number of the other Baby
Bells<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Bells>,
changing from Southwestern Bell Corporation), Kentucky Fried
Chicken<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Fried_Chicken>became
KFC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC>, British
Petroleum<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP>became
BP <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP> to emphasize that it was no longer only
an oil company (captured by its motto "beyond petroleum"), Silicon Graphics,
Incorporated <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Graphics%2C_Incorporated>became
SGI to emphasize that it was no longer only a computer graphics
company. DVD <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD> now has no official meaning:
its advocates couldn't agree on whether the initials stood for "Digital
Video Disc" or "Digital Versatile Disc," and now both terms are used.
Pseudo-acronyms may have advantages in international markets: for example,
some national affiliates <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate> of
International
Business Machines<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Business_Machines>are
legally incorporated as "IBM" (or, for example, "IBM Canada") to avoid
translating the full name into local languages. Similarly,
"UBS<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBS_AG>"
is the name of the merged Union Bank of
Switzerland<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bank_of_Switzerland>and
Swiss
Bank Corporation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Bank_Corporation>
Examples
- pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters:
- FNMA <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FNMA>: (Fannie Mae) Federal
National Mortgage Association
- laser <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser>: light amplification by
the stimulated emission of radiation
- NATO <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO>: North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation
- scuba <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuba>: self-contained
underwater breathing apparatus
- pronounced only as the names of letters
- BBC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Broadcasting_Corporation>:
British Broadcasting Corporation
- DNA <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA>: deoxyribonucleic acid
- LED <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED>: light-emitting diode
- OB-GYN<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstetrics_and_gynaecology>:
obstetrics and gyn(a)ecology *or* obstetrician and
gyn(a)ecologist
- pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
- AAA<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Automobile_Association>:
(*triple a*) American Automobile Association *or* anti-aircraft
artillery
- IEEE<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers>:
(*i triple e*) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- NAACP<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Colored_People>:
(*en double a cee pee*) National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
- NCAA<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Collegiate_Athletic_Association>:
(*en cee double a* or *en cee two a* or *en cee a a*) National
Collegiate Athletic Association
- shortcut incorporated into name
- 3M <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M>: (*three em*) originally
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
- Eł <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E%C2%B3>: (*e three*)
Electronic Entertainment Exposition
- W3C <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W3C>: (*double-u three cee*)
World Wide Web Consortium
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