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Subject:Re: Q. Expanding acronyms within acronyms From:Scott McClare <smcclare -at- DY4 -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 17 Nov 1998 17:23:26 -0500
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peterson Karen [SMTP:Peterson_Karen -at- PRC -dot- COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 1998 4:29 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Q. Expanding acronyms within acronyms
>
>We explain acronyms in our documents at their first occurrence
>by expanding the term and then including the acronym in
>parentheses. How do you format something like IOCTL, which is
>an initialism within an initialism?
>
>input/output (I/O) control (IOCTL)
>or
>I/O control (IOCTL)
I would be inclined to go with:
input/output control (IOCTL)
at first mention (and IOCTL subsequently), since I don't feel it's
really an initialism-within-an-initialism, as you do.
Then, if "input/output" appears separately within the document, you
could do the same for it as an entity in its own right:
input/output (I/O)
Take care,
Scott
--
Scott McClare - Technical Writer
DY 4 Systems Inc., Kanata, Ontario, Canada
(613) 599-9199 x502 smcclare -at- dy4 -dot- com
Opinions are my own
