What is it called when letters are substituted for words, i.e., LOL stands for Laugh out loud.
What is it called when letters are substituted for words, i.e., LOL stands for Laugh out loud.^_^
thatnx guys acronyoum or abbreviation ???
abbreviation - oh no - acronym like Faiz said - haha sorry :D
February 27, 2012
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It's an acronym (it roughly means "top of the name", ie. the first letter of each word).
I find them horrifically annoying... IMHO ;)
February 27, 2012
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You could call it either an acronym or an abbreviation. An acronym is defined by my dictionary as "a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term." For example, the acronym "radar" comes from "RAdio Detecting And Ranging."
An abbreviation is defined as "a shortened form of a written word or phrase used for brevity in place of the whole made commonly by omission of letters from one or more parts of the whole."
So, technically LOL can come under either category, though I prefer to call it an acronym.
LOL (Laughing Out Loud) can also be more specifically categorized as an "initialism," which is "an acronym formed from initial [first] letters."
February 28, 2012
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Actually, it is only an acronym if you can pronounce the letters like a new word (e.g., NASA or NATO). If you can't make something that sounds like a word, and therefore you need to say each letter, then it is an abbreviation (e.g., FBI or KGB).
February 27, 2012
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