Are Acronyms Words

Are Acronyms Words As you know, acronyms are letters or phrases that we often use in the same way as we use words. For example, NATO and NASA are acronyms. You just read each as they stand. Sometimes, acronyms dont sound quite right when you read then as words. For example, in a sentence about the FDA, you pronounce each letter of FDA as you would when saying the alphabet, instead of phonetically. Its important to remember each letter of an acronym represents a word, so acronyms arent the same as abbreviations. For instance, we might abbreviate street as St. or avenue as Ave. The letters dont stand for distinct words as they do with acronyms. Then there are acronyms that are composed of syllables, just to make things a bit more confusing. An example of such an acronym would be Benelux. It stands for three countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and each country gets two letters in the acronym rather than just one. So, Are Acronyms Words? Linguists seem to agree that acronyms really are words. The linguistic phenomenon they represent is known as blending, and although the use of acronyms was once a lot rarer than it is today, we can quite safely say that acronyms are words, even if they dont appear in any dictionary. Some acronyms are so well-used that instead of asking if these acronyms are words, we use them as such without ever realizing they are acronyms. If anyone ever argues with you when you assert that acronyms are words, you can use these examples to catch them off guard. Base jumping: Have you ever wondered why jumping from high places is called base jumping? In this case, base stands for the kinds of things you can jump off if youre really crazy: Building, Aerial, Span or Earth. Captcha: Have you ever wondered why the letters and numbers we type in to show were human are called captchas? Time for the next bit of trivia! It stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. Care packages: Most people think a care package is sent to show that someone cares, and this acronym was probably deliberately developed so that people would make that association. In fact, it stands for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere. Gestapo: Well, its German, so people can be pardoned for not realizing its an abbreviation for Geheime Staatspolizei, but now you do! Radar and Sonar: Surprised? So was I! They stand for Radio Detection and Ranging and Sound Navigation and Ranging respectively. If anyone should argue that an acronym cant be a word, these two words will provide the clinchers to the ensuing argument. Scuba: Now that were getting into the swing of things, you may like to hazard a guess, but its unlikely youll guess Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Diving would be way less sexy-sounding as a sport if people had to say the whole thing, Im just going Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus diving this weekend. Laser When you read laser in an article, theres a pretty good chance the true meaning of this acronym (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) doesnt instantly pop into your mind. This is another example of how we use acronyms as words without even realizing it. Zip Codes: You guessed it. Zip is an acronym. It stands for Zone Improvement Plan. While you may debate whether or not the plan actually worked to improve the zones, theres no denying that this acronym is often used without people knowing that it is one. For the purpose of counting words when writing an essay, article or book, word counters will treat acronyms as a single word rather than as all the words within their meaning. This can be frustrating when youre trying to reach a certain word count, but a benefit when youre attempting to reduce word count. What if all these examples arent sufficient to convince the person youre debating with that an acronym is really a word? While we never would encourage you to actually use physical force, you may become frustrated enough to consider using Thomas A. Swifts Electric Rifle on them. Whats that? A taser of course! (Photo courtesy of Mat Hampson)