Re: Acronyms vs. initialisms

[Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM>]

On Thursday, November 20, 1997 12:54 PM, Roz Ault, Information Technology,
X 377 [SMTP:AULT -at- FAXON -dot- COM] wrote:
> Picky point of usage:  MSDS is not an acronym; it is an initialism.
> Same with SQL, which (according to an SQL seminar I once attended)
> is correctly spoken as Ess Kew Ell, not Sequel.
>
> If you say the individual initials when you speak the abbreviation aloud,
> it's an initialism. If you say them as a word (like GUI, SCSI, or
UNESCO),
> it's an acronym.

Thanks, Roz! That makes SQL a TLI not a TLA! I always have prefaced it with
an "an" in documentation, even though the loosey-goosey speakers around
here think everything has a sequel...

That's what I love about techwriters -- our unfailing ability to pick nits.
I happen to think that's a very good thing. I wouldn't want to work with
one whose attention to detail was less than annoying. I want our sieves to
hold water, too!
--Beth

Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc.
65 Allstate Parkway, Suite 100  Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 9X1        Fax: (905) 513-1419
mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com    Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com

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