A Word, Please: Unlearning rules that were once held dear

It is possible, in grammar and in life, to unlearn something you learned wrong. But man, does it hurt. Especially in grammar where, for some reason, people (present company included) get very invested in tidbits of knowledge, be they real or not.

We latch on to a supposed fact like “it’s wrong to end a sentence with a preposition,” then we spend years silently mouthing “gotcha” every time we see a sentence like “That’s the man I gave my ticket to.”

Worse, we flaunt our supposed knowledge every chance we get, often starting with, “Actually, did you know it’s wrong to …” then watching the room clear.

So when we learn our precious kernel of wisdom is wrong, for example finding out that there is no rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

At least, that’s how I felt when I learned that “FBI,” “AKA,” “TBD” and other initialisms can rightly be called acronyms. Let me explain.

The word “acronym,” formed from the Greek “akros,” meaning “tip” or “end,” and the English “onym,” meaning name, is quite new. The Chambers Dictionary of Etymology found its first use in 1943, but Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary found an example dating back to 1941. Either way, it was hardly used at all before the mid-1950s. In fact, my 1955 Oxford Universal Dictionary doesn’t list it.

And “tip” and “name” are a clue to its original meaning. Take the “tip” of the words in “radio detecting and ranging,” put them together into a name, and you might come up with “radar.” In fact, that’s both the meaning and the origin of “radar.” And it’s a classic example of an acronym.

Take the tips of the words “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus,” make them into a name, and you might get “scuba.”

Take the tips of the words in North Atlantic Treaty Organization, make them into a name, and you might get NATO.
Note that you don’t pronounce that “en-ay-tee-oh.” Instead, the letters are pronounced as a single word, much like NAFTA and FOMO and SCOTUS.

That, as I learned long ago, is what makes an acronym something other than an abbreviation or initialism.

“An acronym is a word formed from the first letter or letters of a series of words: laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation),” writes the Associated Press Stylebook. “An abbreviation is not an acronym.”

Long before I understood that rules in style guides like AP aren’t universal — they’re just guidelines to apply when using that style — I took this “acronym” business to heart. I believed it, repeated it and applied it as a rule in my writing and editing. Years later, when I learned that dictionaries are more universally authoritative than style guides, I looked it up. The dictionary I used at the time, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, said the same thing AP did. Indeed, that’s where AP got their rule. Merriam-Webster’s had the same definition, but they went on to say that you can use “acronym” as a synonym of “initialism” if you like.

In other words, you — that is I — couldn’t rightly say it’s wrong to call “FBI” an acronym just because you pronounce its letters individually. It may be first and foremost an abbreviation, but at least one very authoritative dictionary says the word “acronym” can apply here.

It was like all that effort I put into learning the definition was for nothing, and all the times I said, “Actually, did you know it’s wrong to use ‘acronym’ unless the letters are pronounced as a word,” I wasn’t as smart as I thought.

Lesson learned.

— June Casagrande is the author of “The Best Punctuation Book, Period.” She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.