[USMA:25987] RE: my German friend never heard of SI

[Paul Trusten]

My online M-W dictionary backs you up, Bill. 
> 
> From: "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: 2003/06/07 Sat PM 09:37:28 EDT
> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [USMA:25973] RE: my German friend never heard of SI
> 
> Re: [USMA:25962] RE: my German friend never heard of SYou've lost me there,
> Joe. Whether the initials are in the right order or not makes no difference
> to fact that they are initials. With SI, they are in fact in the right order
> (Système Internationale).
> 
> I have several dictionaries. Acronym is in all of them. NATO and OTAN, as
> pronounceable contrived words, are both, by definition, acronyms. The Oxford
> American Dictionary uses NATO as its example. Webster's uses the
> no-longer-current WAC (Women's Army Corps).
> 
> The concise definition of acronym is "a word formed from the initial letters
> of the words of a compound term."
> 
> Do you, Joe, pronounce SI as "sigh" or as "ess eye?"
> Bill Potts, CMS
> Roseville, CA
> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
> 
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf
> Of Joseph B. Reid
>   Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 17:34
>   To: U.S. Metric Association
>   Subject: [USMA:25970] RE: my German friend never heard of SI
> 
> 
>   Bill Potts wrote in USMA 25962:
> 
> 
>     Unless you're pronouncing it as a word ("sigh"), it's not an acronym.
> It's simply initials.
>     (NATO and UNESCO are acronyms.)
>     [I hope I'm not being picky, but misuse of the word acronym is one of my
> pet peeves.]
> 
>   I can't find "acronym" in my dictionaries. However "SI" is the same in all
> languages, whereas NATO is OTAN in French.  Further, "SI" is not simply
> initial letters in English where it stands for "The Interrnational System of
> Units". If SI were simply initials it would have to be IS in English.
> 
> 
> --
> Joseph B. Reid
>   17 Glebe Road West
>   Toronto  M5P 1C8                Telephone 416-486-6071
> 
> 

Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
3609 Caldera Blvd, Apt. 122
Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
432-694-6208
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

There are two cardinal sins, from which all the others spring: impatience and laziness.

            ---Franz Kafka

Title: Re: [USMA:25962] RE: my German friend never heard of S

You've lost me there, Joe. Whether the initials are in the right order or not makes no difference to fact that they are initials. With SI, they are in fact in the right order (Système Internationale).

 

I have several dictionaries. Acronym is in all of them. NATO and OTAN, as pronounceable contrived words, are both, by definition, acronyms. The Oxford American Dictionary uses NATO as its example. Webster's uses the no-longer-current WAC (Women's Army Corps).

 

The concise definition of acronym is "a word formed from the initial letters of the words of a compound term."

 

Do you, Joe, pronounce SI as "sigh" or as "ess eye?"

Bill Potts, CMS
Roseville, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Joseph B. Reid
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 17:34
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:25970] RE: my German friend never heard of SI

Bill Potts wrote in USMA 25962:

Unless you're pronouncing it as a word ("sigh"), it's not an acronym. It's simply initials. 

(NATO and UNESCO are acronyms.)

[I hope I'm not being picky, but misuse of the word acronym is one of my pet peeves.]

 

I can't find "acronym" in my dictionaries. However "SI" is the same in all languages, whereas NATO is OTAN in French.  Further, "SI" is not simply initial letters in English where it stands for "The Interrnational System of Units". If SI were simply initials it would have to be IS in English.

-- 

Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto  M5P 1C8                Telephone 416-486-6071