On 2013-12-09 14:43, Jo wrote : > Hi, > > While adding bus stops, I'm inclined to expand the abbreviations. This > usually makes sense for > O.L.V (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw) > St. -> Sint- or straat > H. -> Heilig > ... > > Where I'd really prefer not to expand: > > OCMW / CPAS > P&R > BLOSO I think one must distinguish an *acronym*, which is a *proper noun* (normally preceded by "the") and is the *established* name of a single thing, from one or several abbreviated *common noun(s) *(normally preceded by 'a') which is/are the name(s) of a category of many things. The acronym is normally written without dots, the abbreviation with dots, so, if that rule is respected, our rule would come down to: don't use dots. *The* USA acronym is single and well known by everybody and best remains as such; *a* saint or *a* street are many (albeit saint Nicolas is single (they say)) and should be fully spelled. But things are not always clearly cut in this world: *a* C.H.U. is a Centre Hospitalier Universitaire but to the persons living near one, it's *the* (their) C.H.U. or CHU. Also, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw is made of common words, but, if the rule is like in French, the "-" make it something different and it straddles the two rules to me. Note the difference in French between the person "saint Nicolas", the municipality "Saint-Nicolas" and the feast "la Saint-Nicolas" (not his wife if he is single (they say)). Also, I think it's being nice to strangers to use the full common nouns to save them guesses; I always wondered why Web dictionaries use abbreviations: annoying strangers or saving paper for full prints? Polyglot, we must forgive the Russian Ул. because they never write anything else on maps, envelopes, like ЖД and РЖД. (no mockery, I just love this remark:) The French word is abréviation; why is it so long and why did the English lengthen it even more to abbreviation? :-)
Cheers, André.
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