Where Do New Words Come From?

AOL News

Those were just initialisms , but the writer referred to them as acronyms . ... Here is a very good example of how changes of meaning occur right in front of ...

Texting can be hazardous to professional health

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Short Message Service (SMS) language is ultra-concise, relying heavily on abbreviations , initialisms (in which the letters are pronounced individually, ...



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expand this please, say why they are used and what-not.?
Q. An initialism is a abbreviation containing the first letter of words in a phrase, or in a well know sentence but the difference between these and acronyms is that in an initialism the first letters do not make up a pronounceable word for example lmao, which means laughing my ass off, and IRS which means Internal revenue service. You say the letters not the words, these like acronyms are used to save both time and space, it is easier to write four letters then four words. An equal number of males and females used initialism. 70% of both sexes used them. Females used a total number of twenty-one initialism and males used a total of eight-teen initialism, with a difference of seven between the two so even though the same amount of people… [cont.]
Asked by Jasmine - Mon Nov 16 04:54:11 2009 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. An initial ism is a abbreviation containing the first letter of words in a phrase or in a well-know sentence. The difference between initial ism and acronyms is that in the former's first letters do not make up a pronounceable word. For example lmao, which means laughing my *** off and IRS which means Internal Revenue Service. Like acronyms, they are used to save time and space. Both males and females use initialisms with 70% each. Females used a total number of 21 initialisms and males used a total of 18 initialisms. With a difference of seven between the two, even though the same amount of people used them, males managed to use more in their conversations. it would much better if you can include more examples for initialism that are… [cont.]
Answered by panic_girl - Mon Nov 16 07:24:53 2009

What is the BASIC term for a group of words where you use the initial letter from each word? ?
Q. For example like RSPCA means Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or maybe GPS Global Positioning System but not the ones that make up words say like NATO or anacronyms say like RADAR - I mean ones that don't spell words and are not necessarily familiar to the point where the original meaning is forgotten like anacronyms like the second example. Is there a word like acronym or anacronym that just defines the words simply made up from the initials - and I don't mean Initialism or Alphabetism - I thought there was another more basic word other than abbreviation which generally means shortening of a word like abbrev. but does now seem to encompass groups of words and their initials - can anyone assist me on this please - I'm [cont.]
Asked by NONAME - Sat Sep 20 17:25:46 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Some say that acronym encompasses both, others say that acronyms are abbreviations that form pronounceable words and initialisms are abbreviations that do not. There doesn't seem to be any firm agreement.
Answered by DC - Tue Sep 23 17:21:32 2008