Hi,
I would like to thank you once again for your marvelous site. In one of my lessons through e-mail, I quite understood the difference between acronyms and abbreviations. I’m a bit confused why the initial sounds of different words in forming an acronym join together like a whole word, but in abbreviations they should be pronounced separately.
looking forward to hearing you soon.
Thanks a lot
Fariba
Obviously for an abbreviation/initialism to become an acronym, it must first be pronounceable as a word. For example, KGB cannot be pronounced as a word, so it is immediately ruled out.
If an abbreviation/initialism can be pronounced as a word, then sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t, according to convention. For exampe, “NATO” and “AWOL” are always pronounced as words, while “SOS” and “POW” never are, despite being pronounceable. There are no rules for this as far as I know; it’s just random historical chance.
Of course, names are often invented deliberately so that their initials will form a pronounceable word, especially a word that is somehow appropriate. For example BASIC (programming language) originally stood for “Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code”.
Hi Dozy,
I appreciate your quick response again. Now I got it, you explained it very well.
Thanks a lot
Fariba