Discuss the Article : All About Acronyms In English
"OMG do you read all italki articles!?" LOL, please. As if anyone would not read an italki article, especially this one. I mean, this article includes everything you need to know about acronyms and abbreviations. IMHO (in my honest opinion), you should read this article.
In my opinion, most of the abbreviations you use in your article areinitialisms, not acronyms at all.
"-nym" means "some kind of word." An "acronym" means a word formed from the initial letters of a phrase. An acronym is a word--a combination of letters that is spoken as a word, not spelled out letter by letter.
For example, a "laser" may stand for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation," but it is a word, a word that rhymes with "pays her," and is never spoken aloud as "el ay ess ee are."
The name for a combination of initial letters that is pronounced letter by letter, such as USA, or ATM, or DJ, is "initialism."
I think one thing learners (and even native speakers sometimes) struggle with in English is knowing how appropriate each acronym is.
For example: "e.g." and "etc." are acceptable in academic documents, "ASAP" and "BYO" are acceptable in professional settings, "OP" (opening post) and "TLDR" are generally accepted on online public forums (although less so on a site like Italki), and "wtf" and "afk" are 'acceptable' in private chat conversations online; but none of them would be acceptable in the category before them. How is a learner meant to know that "etc." or "USA" is appropriate in the context, but "brb" isn't?
You did a good job explaining the context of each acronym, but sadly it's a lot more complicated than can be explained in a single article!
