WNW: Abbreviations, Acronyms, Initialisms, & Monograms

Weeks (months?) ago, I pasted a note from Twitter to remind myself to do this post. I'm pretty sure the suggestion came from TJ Bronley, and here I am, finally getting around to answering his request.

For this week's Word Nerd Wednesday: What is the difference between acronyms, monograms, and abbreviations?

(I'm adding initialisms to the list; you'll see why.)

First off, let's look at what an abbreviation is.

An abbreviation is simply a shortening of a word or phrase using components of that word or phrase. Some abbreviations use a period at the end, but not all require one.

Examples of abbreviations:

• Quart = qt
• Minute = min
• Doctor = Dr.
• Mister = Mr.
• Et cetera = etc.
• International Police = Interpol*
• AM, PM
• BC, AD

The last two on that list are so common that we've almost forgotten what they stand for (ante meridiem/post meridiem, meaning before and after noon, and Before Christ/Anno Domini, meaning in the year of our Lord).

Here are some modern abbreviations that developed from e-mail and texting. (This list could go on forever, but I'll keep it short.)

• FWIW (For what it's worth)
• IMO (In my opinion)
• LOL (Laughing out loud) 

We use abbreviations for all kinds of things, including the United States (the US) and the group of countries that comprise the United Kingdom (the UK). 

Acronyms are a type of abbreviation. They typically use the initial letters of a phrase or name and (here's the important part) acronyms can be pronounced as a word. Some acronyms are spelled out as all caps. Others use periods between the letters, and some are entirely lowercase. Check your style guide to know how to write one out. Examples of acronyms:

• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
• laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
• AIDS (autoimmune-deficiency syndrome)
• scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
• CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory)

That last one mixes things up a bit, as only the second part (ROM) is pronounced as a word. We still say the letters separately on CD, of course.

Initialisms are similar to acronyms. They're also a type of abbreviation. Like acronyms, they use the first letters, but the big difference is that initialisms aren't pronounced as words. 

Many initialisms are abbreviations for organizations, such as television stations, government entities, or universities. Examples of initialisms:

• FBI
• CIA
• NBC
• FCC
• BYU 

Tip: If you don't say it like a word, it's just a regular abbreviation or an initialism, not an acronym.

RAS Syndrome

This is a silly name for something that crops up a lot because of how often we use abbreviations. RAS is an abbreviation of Redundant Acronym Syndrome. Say the full name (with syndrome at the end), and we've got a repetitive phrase with RAS Syndrome in action: Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome.

Silly, yes, but this kind of thing really does show up all the time. I bet you've heard people talk about a PIN Number, when the N in PIN already means number, so they're saying, Personal Identification Number Number. 

Or what about a screen's LCD display? We don't need that last word, because then we're saying liquid crystal display display.

Monograms are another animal altogether. Unlike the other terms we've talked about, they aren't a type of abbreviation. Instead, monograms are symbols or logos with one or more letters made into a single image. Monograms were often used as symbols of a monarch. Today we see them a lot in corporate and school logos. They aren't words at all, just images that tell the viewer instantly who or what it stands for.

An example: For many years during her talk-show period, Oprah used a big O with a specific font to symbolize her name and brand. We still see it prominently on her magazine today.

There you have it! If you have suggestions for future Word Nerd Wednesdays, drop me a line on Twitter. You can find me here: @AnnetteLyon.


*I believe InterPol technically has a longer name, but I'm not doing the research on that one today. 

WNW: Celebration

Before today's Word Nerd Wednesday, a couple of housekeeping items:

1) I haven't posted as much as usual lately, because I'm under the gun on several deadlines. (Among them: the edits for Paige, my book in the Newport Ladies Book Club! Yeehaw!) (Oh, and be sure to LIKE the Book Club Facebook page!)

2) When those deadlines are over, I'll have a busy week with the conference I attend and typically speak at every year. I'm teaching a table at the Publishing Primer workshop plus two classes. Which means busy, busy, busy.

These two items mean that I'll return to my regular posting schedule after that.

TODAY we look at words for happiness and celebration, because I got some great news this afternoon. (See below.)

Gala

As in, the awesome place where I totally celebrated last May when I received a certain award.

Fete

A lavish, often outdoor party. Sign me up!

Carnival

This one's more for the kids. As long as there aren't huge crowds, I'm happy to show up.

Fest

One of my favorite words. I use it when describing all kinds of fun activities. Writing fest. Chocolate fest. Reading fest. You get the idea.

Jubilee

This sounds awfully fancy, like I need an evening gown.

Fiesta

Pinata, anyone?

Two fun related words that apply:

Merrymaking

Here's one that totally fits today's situation. I'm excited and will celebrate through merrymaking, which may or may not include a goofy dance. I hope it doesn't look as goofy as Elaine.

and (not kidding):

Jollification

This goes back to the early 1800s, and it's an Old West, mountain man term. I love it! I think I'll incorporate it into my vocabulary.

So WHY am I'm excited today? What's with the merrymaking and jollification?

The sequel to Band of Sisters has been accepted for publication!!!

It'll be called Band of Sisters: Coming Home, and it's slated for release pretty soon: in January!

This means I'll have two books out soon: Paige and then Band of Sisters: Coming Home.

(Can I hear a booyah?)

The writer's journey is fraught with bumps and bruises and well as the awesome vistas. To reach a summit (or increasingly more difficult-to-reach summits, as the case is), you have to climb long mountain paths.

The last couple of years have been tough; it's felt like I've been climbing and falling down cliffs, making little progress.

And now this. I'm feeling great about what's lined up and the projects I'm currently working on.

Serendipitously (I'm claiming that's a word), we're going out for Thai food with my parents tonight. Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate to me.

Oh, and a final celebration-related word:

Hooray!

WNW: Grammar Girl Writes

Today's Word Nerd Wednesday post isn't what I expected it to be. I had two of Grammar Girl's books. One was really short. Surely discussion on both books would fit into a single post, right?

So I started with the (short) first one, Grammar Girl's 101 Words Every High School Graduate Needs to Know, by Mignon Fogarty. (If you haven't stopped by to check her out, you must.)

I jotted notes and thoughts on my bookmark (a business card). I didn't think I'd need more room than that. I did. Let's just say that I'll have to talk about the other book another time, because one post simply won't do them justice.

When I first flipped through 101 Words, a few entries caught my eye. (Glacier? Really?) I wondered why Fogarty had included them in a list of words of importance for high school grads. Then I read it. Now I get it. (Yes, glacier. Really.)

The words in this book aren't necessarily ones that high school grads will know if they did their homework. I've seen similar lists for high school grads, and they usually do include boring stuff like hypothesis that grads should know when they get a diploma.

This one's different. If incoming college students knows these words, they'll be a step ahead in cultural literacy and understanding the world around them, whether it's the news, politics and what the politicians are saying (or calling each other), technology (important in today's world), science (ditto), or even pop culture.

The book has a fun tone. It's a quick and easy read with lots of white space (easy on the eyes) and humorous drawings. The words are alphabetical, and every letter of the alphabet gets at least one.

A few of my favorites:

• galaxy (New etymology for me.)
• ironic (Please, please, people! Learn this one and use it correctly.)
• epic (And not just as "epic fail.")
• mandate (I love how its got a history that's the reverse of verbification of nouns.)
• canard (New word for me.)
• ad hominem (A must-know for election years.)
• Romance languages (Before, I could have told you what they are, but I didn't know why until now.)
• ubiquitous (I love a good word joke, and you'll find one here.)

The explanations are easy to understand, and each word gets a quotation to show how it's used. I really enjoyed these; they're totally entertaining. She quotes classics like Shakespeare and Jane Austen, contemporaries like Dave Berry and Obama, and even fictional characters like The Simpsons and House. (The 101st word quotes someone many of my readers will perk up at: Ezra Taft Benson.)

In the end, if you read the whole thing, you'll get more than 101 words, because several entries include opposites and related words.

This is one I'll be keeping on my shelf. And making my teens read.

*I received a copy of the book from the publisher. Opinions are entirely my own. I have standing policy of not reviewing books unless I have personally contacted the author with that intent.

WNW: Homophones the Sequel

I keep a running list of homophone blunders I come across, and when it gets long enough, we get another Word Nerd Wednesday featuring the latest fun.

7 more word pairs to keep straight:

eke/eek

• If you're struggling to make ends meet, you eke out a living, meaning you get it with great difficulty.
• When you open the pantry and a mouse scurries between your feet you shriek, "Eek!"

discrete/discreet

I'm going to be honest; this is a word pair I regularly pause to think over to make sure I get it right.

• When I write a novel, it's discrete, individually distinct from any other.
• If Sammy hears a juicy piece of gossip, she knows how to be discreet by using good judgment and not blabbering it about publicly.

bolder/boulder

• In high school, I was generally too shy to speak up. I had to learn to be bolder in class.
• I used to live on a street named after a huge gray boulder, a stone taller than my ten-year-old self.

latter/later

I've seen this pair mixed up a lot lately, with the second word used as the first, even by highly educated folks. It has me scratching my head. A refresher:

• Laura had to to decide between buying the red or green blouse and opted for the latter. In other words, she's now the proud owner of a green blouse, since it was listed second.
• Had Laura arrived at the store an hour later, the green one might have already been sold, so she'd have bought the red one.

passed/past

I address this pair in my grammar book, but it bears repeating. The first word here (passed) is a verb that already happened:

• As Dave rode his bike to work, cars passed him awfully close.

The other word (past) could be either a noun or a preposition. (It can also be an adjective, but let's keep it simple for today.)

• Noun: Tell me about your the last three years of your past.
• Preposition: Scott walked right past Julie without recognizing her.

allot/a lot

Peeve, peeve, peeve. First of all, note that I didn't write alot. That would be because it's not a word. You need the space between the A and the LOT. TWO words. For the love.

The two words in action:

• Pete planned to allot thirty minutes for his lunch break at work.
• On second thought, make that forty-five. He was starving and knew he'd eat a lot.

idle/idol

This is a recent confused pair. I'm guessing it has something to do with the popularity of American Idol. (Although if that's true, wouldn't more people know the difference? It's a puzzler.)

• Janice planned lots of activities for summer to keep her children from being idle.
• Jenny's mother wished she'd find someone else to look up to instead of her idol, Lindsay Lohan.

The other day, I borrowed a book from my dad that will likely inspire future WNW posts and will definitely bring me lots of nerdy joy: Diction of Confusing Words and Meanings.

I'm salivating already.

WNW: People Who Became Nouns

I love learning the history behind words.

(Okay, duh. I could have pointed out something else equally obvious to my reader. Hmm. I like chocolate. Yeah, that'll do.)

Life magazine recently ran a piece online that I found utterly fascinating: How the names of people from history morphed into nouns and adjectives we use today.

I knew many of them (sideburns, gerrymandering, Heimlich, guy).

Others were totally obvious once they were pointed out, sort of a head-smacking "Of course!" moment (Colt, ottoman, Kalashnikov, Bunson).

And some were fascinating news to me (pompadour, Ferrari, fuchsia, jacuzzi, kelvin).

Check out the complete list with pictures and explanations HERE.

Tip: It works better if you click on the next picture from the menu below rather than on the NEXT arrow.

REMINDER:

TOMORROW IS NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY AND MY BOOK LAUNCH!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28TH

The Chocolate Dessert Cafe

212 South State, Orem

4:00-7:00 pm

-Giveaways & prizes

-Free Companion DVD to the first 5 people

-Free samples

-Free cupcake with each book purchase

-Get your book signed!

Please come!

WNW: Top Words for HS Grads, #11-20

Back in June I posted the first 10 of 100 words that Houghton Mifflin says every high school graduate should know. I still find many of them odd choices.

Today we're looking at the second set, numbers 11-20.

How many do you know well enough to use in a sentence? Use in a blog post this week? In a comment? How many do you think are bizarre to be listed on the top 100?

chromosome

Now that the human genome has been mapped and everything from the new Spider-Man series of movies to sci-fi novels talk about DNA, this one makes some sense. I suppose most grads would know this one simply because of the culture we live in or at least have some concept that it deals with genetics.

churlish

Hmm. Why would modern high-school grads need to know this one? It's not like they're going to be visiting Pemberley any time soon.

circumlocution

I'm most familiar with the second definition: avoiding a topic, evading it through speech. The other definition: essentially using a bunch of words when just a few will do. I think I learned this one as a high-school junior in my honors English class, along with its friend, meander. Not sure how many grads who aren't word nerds would know it or care that they don't.

circumnavigate

Yeah. This one is critical for grads to know, being as we're still looking for explorers to prove that the world isn't flat and all . . .

deciduous

Assuming they passed basic biology, most grads would know this one, I guess. But really? Why does a type of tree rank in the top 100 of important words to know? It's not something used in typical conversations by literate people around the water cooler. It doesn't show up in the news and hardly ever in literature. Another head scratcher.

diffident

"Lacking in self-confidence or self-trust, hesitant in acting or speaking." Frankly, I think this one's a bit flowery of a word for an 18-year-old to be using. I'm trying to picture my recently graduated nephew using it. Mmm, not working. (Then again, he was on the state championship football team. He wouldn't be diffident, let alone use the word. By the way, he just got his mission call. Yay, Scott!)

enervate

"To weaken or impair the strength of." That's assuming they mean the verb form, not the adjective. (Also, assuming they don't mean the definition hailing from 1638, something a bit more gruesome: "to cut the tendons of." Ick.) I'm betting a good number of college grads don't know this one.

enfranchise

This one's practically Dilbert-ese because it's used so much in corporate settings. Often the negative is used: disenfranchise. But I'm still guessing that most grads don't really know that it can refer to gaining freedoms or advantages as a human being even from slavery.

epiphany

I love this word. I hope most grads know this one. It's not only pretty as a word (yes, yes, I know I'm a nerd), but the concept is awesome, especially for writers.

We live for epiphanies.

WNW: Words, Words, Words

I came across two different pieces of fun online this week. (The first I stumbled on via Maya Reynold's blog, and the other one, Melanie J sent my way, knowing I'd love it.)

I couldn't pick between the two, and since they both deal with vocabulary and words in general, I'm using both today.

THE FIRST

I learned a new word this week: Mountweazel.

A Mountweazel is a word or entry in a book (like a dictionary or encyclopedia) that is deliberately fake, allowing the creators to track copyright violators who copy their work. If someone uses their book and the fake entry shows up, it's pretty obvious that it's a) not original and 2) they got their information from a specific source.

The term came from one such entry, in the 1975 New Columbia Encyclopedia (NCE), an entry about a non-existent woman named Lillian Virginia Mountweazel.

Her supposed bio read:

Lillian Virginia Mountweazel (1942-1973). Her biography claims she was a fountain designer and photographer, best known for her collection of photos of rural American mailboxes, "Flags Up!" She was born in Bangs, Ohio, and died in an explosion while on assignment for "Combustibles" magazine.

In 2005, The New Yorker took the name and used it to describe the concept. You can find that article HERE.

That article is fascinating in its own right. An unnamed investigator took the job on himself to figure out where the Mountweazel was in the New Oxford Dictionary. A leak claimed that the made-up word began with E. He went through all the Es and whittled them down to six viable candidates then took those words to a group of pros.

While the lexicographers weren't in agreement, the majority did pick the fake:

esquivalience—n. the willful avoidance of one’s official responsibilities . . . late 19th cent.: perhaps from rom French esquiver, “dodge, slink away.”

Read the full article to see how they figured it out.

The second fun bit is a long poem with a bunch of crazy vocabulary words.

"The Chaos," a poem by G. Nolst Trenite (Charivarius) has homophones as well as the opposite: words next to one another that are spelled similarly but pronounced totally different.

From the fourth line: "corpse, corps, horse, and worse"

It gets really crazy. Read it aloud and see if you can do it 100% correctly. I've got pretty decent-sized vocabulary, but I didn't quite make it. Two words I didn't know at all, and a couple I looked up quickly to see if I was pronouncing them right.

One word I can thank Dr. Oaks for teaching me:

VICTUALS is not, like many (and I used to) think pronounced like "VIC-TOO-ALLS."

It's "VITTLES."

Check out the whole poem HERE. It's a riot.

Reading it reminded me of those spelling protesters. They'd have a field day.