Dear Bill and All,
I have followed your discussion in support of a rigorous definition of the
word, acronym, and I can see the distinctions that you are making.
However, I have always understood that the designers of Le Système
International d'Unités alway intended that the letters SI should be a symbol
for Le Système International d'Unités as it is a symbol for The
International System of Units.
In this sense the word 'symbol' was intended in its algebraic sense. I
believe that the designers of SI were deeply impressed by their success in
forming an algebraically sound system of units that was profoundly coherent.
They were not about to let the name for this system be either an
'abbreviation' or an 'acronym'; it had to be a symbol in the same sense that
the symbol for metres per second (m/s) is made up of the three symbols
metres, m division, /, and seconds, s.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong Australia
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe by sending an email containing the word subscribe to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
on 2003-06-12 12.54, Bill Potts at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> A definitive description of what an acronym is and is not is in the New York
> Public Library Desk Reference. Here it is:
>> Acronyms are pronounceable formations made by combining the initial letters
>> or syllables of a string of words. Some abbreviations look like acronyms, but
>> are listed as abbreviations because they are not pronounced as words, for
>> example, CIA (usually pronounced "C-I-A") and DAR (usually pronounced
>> "D-A-R"). A few acronyms may be pronounced either as words ("REM") or as
>> abbreviations ("R-E-M").
> So, unless SI is usually pronounced as "si" (see) or "sigh," it is simply an
> abbreviation. "S-I" (ess eye) puts it squarely in the abbreviation category.
>
> Incidentally, I wear several hats (figurative ones), of which one is that of
> professional writer (two published books, many papers and presentations,
> several articles, and a number of manuals, seminars and courses), so I've been
> around this particular block (the acronym argument) quite a few times.
> Bill Potts, CMS
> Roseville, CA
> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of
>> Norman & Nancy Werling
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 19:00
>> To: U.S. Metric Association
>> Subject: [USMA:26020] RE: my German friend never heard of SI
>>
> Re: Acronyms
>
> My Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, latest © in 1976
> says that radar is an example of an acronym, "radio detecting and ranging" (ra
> d a r). Until I got interested in this acronym debate, I certainly did not
> kknow that about the word 'radar'.
>
> BTW, I pronounce "SI" as "ess eye".
>
> Norm
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 21:44
>> Subject: [USMA:26019] RE: my German friend never heard of SI
>>
>> In a message dated 2003-06-11 20:40:43 Eastern Daylight Time,
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>>
>>> *acronym* A word formed by the combining of initial letters of a series
>>> of words or syllables and letters of a series of words or a compound term.
>>> Funk &Wagnalls Dictionary, International Edition.
>>>
>>> In my opinion, the two-character "symbol" *SI* may be correctly called
>>> an "acronym" or an "abbreviation."
>>>
>>
>> The word usually has to be pronounceable as such to be a true acronym. The
>> New York City Transit Authority had a subsidiary formed when they took over
>> the Fifth Avenue Coach Lines in 1962 called the Manhattan And Bronx Surface
>> Transit Operating Authority; New Yorkers actually pronounced the word made
>> from the initials of this.
>>
>> cm
>>
