Posted by Andrey Tarasevich on 02/15/06 23:39

Jim Moe wrote:

> Neredbojias wrote:
>>
>>> Or I could say that <abbr> is a subset of <acronym>.
>>
>> <acronym> is a subset of <abbr>.
>>
> I read that in another post as well. I don't see it. Convince me otherwise.
>
> Abbreviation: A shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in
> writing to represent the complete form (Mass., USB).
> Acronym: A word formed from the initial letters of a name, or by
> combining initial letters or parts of a series of words (RADAR, SCSI).
>
> The primary difference is that an acronym is pronounced as a word so it
> has the extra semantic "value" not in an abbreviation.

No. USB is also an acronym and it is not pronounced as a word, while
pronouncing SCSI as a word is entirely optional.

Once again, acronym, by definition, is just a particular form of
abbreviation.

--
Best regards,
Andrey Tarasevich

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