Steve If you think acronym is an acronym, have another think coming: it is of pure Greek origin. Your "explanation" possibly has a name, but I don't know it. The following are cut and pasted from the electronic Oxford dictionary: acronym // n. a word, usu. pronounced as such, formed from the initial letters of other words (e.g. Ernie, laser, Nato). [Greek akron ‘end’ + onuma = onoma ‘name’] abbreviation / / n. 1 an abbreviated form, esp. a shortened form of a word or phrase. 2 the process or result of abbreviating. [Middle English via Late Latin abbreviare ‘shorten’ from Latin brevis ‘short’: cf. abridge] I bring to your attention the essential difference between these. If you pronounce an abbreviation as a word and not letters, then - and only then - it is an acronym. Thus, for example, DFM is an abbreviation and not an acronym, because your say it 'dee-eff-emm'. Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is an acronym, because it is usually pronounced 'layzer' and not 'ell-ay-ess-ee-are', which it would be, were it a simple abbreviation. What does 'Steve' mean? Some Times Even Very Eloquent? Here endeth the first lesson. Brian "Stephen R. Gregory" wrote: > > > O.K. Rick.....What does TANSTAAFL mean? > > Hey all! > > Sitting here eating lunch, I found this: > > http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall/abbrev.html > > It's got just about every acronym defined that you could think of there, all > in alphabetical order...in fact, did you know that acronym is a acronym? > > ACRONYM = Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding Meaning > > There was some pretty good ones there...I was ROTFLMAAOBPO!!! > > PCMCIA, > > -Steve Gregory- > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d > To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in > the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet > To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL > Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives > Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional > information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------