Is there a distinct term for acronyms with multi-letter parts, particularly in title case? My motivating examples are: Conventions: BlizzCon, NyCon II, WonderCon (nee Wonderful World of Comics Convention), etc. National * Months: NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), NaBloPoMo, NaSoAlMo, and other timed artistic challenges. Technical linguistic terms like “clipping compounds” are acceptable parts of … Read more
Is the acronym “O.K.” generally pronounced as an iamb or a trochee? Or is it context-dependent? Answer This specific question can be answered by any dictionary. However, there is a more general question underlying it which may merit closer attention, and that is how pretty much all two-letter letter-pairs in English place the stress on … Read more
Well-known game journalists TotalBiscuit and Jim Sterling use [the number of frames per second] fps instead of 30FPS or 30 FPS, without an intervening space between the units and the following units (like 30fps or 60fps). Example One http://www.thejimquisition.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-mutants-in-manhattan-review/ PC users will be delighted to know it’s [the game] locked at 30fps on all platforms. Example Two … Read more
There is this organization/fellowship/support community for alcoholics called Alcoholics Anonymous. For sex or porn addiction, the organization/fellowship/support community is called Sexaholics Anonymous. And so there are similar organizations/fellowships/support communities for other forms of addictions. What to say when we want to refer to this kind of organizations/fellowships/communities, and not to any particular one of them. … Read more
When writing the initials of a surname such as “St. John” (I will use the first name of Tom for an example), would those initials be written as ‘TSJ’ or ‘TS’ or ‘TJ’ or are all of these equally common? Another question: Is the full form of the surname always “Saint John”, or has the … Read more
Some brands or product names take the form of an acronym, but the letters don’t actually stand for anything. An example would be Windows XP–the “XP” was chosen for its sound and connotations rather than any particular words starting with X or P. Is there a term for this sort of formation? My first thought … Read more
I am intrigued by the use of the letter “x” in the abbreviation of the term “User Experience” does this follow any specific language or phonetic rules? Answer As Hot Licks points out in a comment, several posters provide background on the use of UX as a short form of "user experience" in response to … Read more
Please advice on how to correctly abbreviate name. Which are grammatically correct? (if there are more correct forms please kindly add them as well) NOTE, If there is no correct way, please point out the acceptable/common form. Case 1 First Name and Last Name Mr. John Smith Mr. John S Mr. John S. Mr. J … Read more
There are some initialisms out there that are unpronouncable as words in any correct English sense (I found one today of SQRL). However the inventor of such terms force a word onto them, in this case: The SQRL system (pronounced “squirrel”) Unless you were aware of this term, and the authors intended pronunciation of it … Read more
When pronouncing URL, I say (roughly) “you-are-ell.” A colleague insists that (roughly) “earl” is more common. Is there a widely accepted pronunciation? Within the computer world or without? Answer Merriam-Webster’s entry for ‘URL’ agrees with you. So do those at Oxforddictionaries.com, Cambridgedictionaries.com and Macmillandictionary.com. Netlingo is agnostic, giving both pronunciations. (That’s not to say that … Read more
