wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Andy from Brooklyn October 22, 2009 - 11:49AM

  There also needs to be a word for initialisms that are longer to say than the phrase they are a shortened version of. Example: WWW, which is 9 syllables, short for World Wide Web, which is only 3.

  
  
• [2] Daniel from Munich October 22, 2009 - 11:58AM

  Mnemocronyms --- because it's easier to remember or say "triple A" than AAA.

  Another example:

  Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, a french physics institute. It's abbreviated INPNPP, but called "I N two P three."

  
  
• [3] Troy from Brooklyn, NY October 22, 2009 - 12:03PM

  I like 'numerism,' since it refers to the numbers of initials. Eh? Eh?

  
  
• [4] Ellen Novack from Tribeca October 22, 2009 - 12:04PM

  Call something like "Triple A" a 'descriptik", because it describes what you're looking at when you see "AAA".

  
  
• [5] Mark from Dobbs Ferry October 22, 2009 - 12:04PM

  "Triple A" for AAA : Descriptograph

  
  
• [6] michael from brooklyn October 22, 2009 - 12:04PM

  another example I can think of is the Long Island Railroad. Lots of people call it the "L. I. Double R."

  
  
• [7] Ben October 22, 2009 - 12:07PM

  "Triple A" = an Acroname

  
  
• [8] David Anderson from Riverdale October 22, 2009 - 12:10PM

  Triple A us an initialism, that is, unless NAACP isn't.

  
  
• [9] Robert DTG from New Jersey October 22, 2009 - 12:11PM

  Suggestion for the new category: collapsism

  Example in the same category as AAA: IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

  Examples of another new category?: ISO9000. Seems to blend an acroynm with simthing more literal.

  
  
• [10] Ira from New Jersey October 22, 2009 - 12:17PM

  Borrowing from barely remembered high school math and poetry, "Triple AAA" is a "terminating, repeating, alliterative acronym." But this is a truly ugly phrase.

  Since a "number" of repeating letters is used, how about "number" + "acronym" = "numnym?"

  Or, for sameness, "monotonous" + "acronym" = "mononym?"

  If we could just teach computer science's regular expression pattern mini-language (understandable by people who use APIs) to the general population, then we would not even need to give a name to something like "Triple AAA", we could just state the generic pattern. But I'm sure something like this impossible, like getting David Byrne to wear his bicycle helmet 100% of the time!

  
  
• [11] Harris from Harlem October 22, 2009 - 12:22PM

  I suggest we call it:

  Numernyms or Numericalnyms since numbers are used to discribe the word.

  Other examples:

  - NAACP (N double-A CP)

  - NCAA (N C double-A)

  - AAMCO (Double-A M C O)

  By the way, what do we call the new word that is made from using more than just the first letter of each word but is still pronounced as a word? For Example:

  - NABISCO (National Biscuit Company)

  - NECCO (New England Confectionary Company)

  - SPAM (Spiced Ham)

  - SYSCO (Systems and Services Company)

  - SUNOCO (Sun Oil Company)

  
  
• [12] Amy from Manhattan October 22, 2009 - 12:40PM

  Whatever name you give it, I'd say examples like NAACP or IEEE are hybrids, since only some of the letters doubled or triple. I've also heard NAACP & NCAA pronouced as pure initialisms.

  
  
• [13] Mike O from Staten Island October 22, 2009 - 01:57PM

  There must also be a category that covers organizations running away from what their initials used to stand for, namely AARP. Today, AARP stands for absolutely nothing at all. Check their website.

  
  
• [14] Karen from Port Chester, NY October 22, 2009 - 02:33PM

  How about calling them symboliphones?

  
  
• [15] Barry Leiba from Cortlandt Manor, NY October 22, 2009 - 03:16PM

  There are two other categories:

  1. A replicated letter is replaced by a number that represents the count of the replications:

  the World Wide Web Consortium == W3C.

  2. A long string of letters in the middle of a word is replaced by the count of the letters: internationalization == i18n; globalization == g11n.

  I have no names for these, but they differ from "AAA", which is still *written* as "AAA", even though we say "triple-A".

  
  
• [16] Allen Wolovsky from Bklyn October 23, 2009 - 12:03PM

  Sorry I missed the original segment. I have a write-in vote: "Repetation." Easy to pronounce, easy to remember, will handle repeated letters as well as numbers.

  Allen

  
  
• [17] Barry Leiba from Cortlandt Manor, NY October 23, 2009 - 01:14PM

  #11, Harris from Harlem:

  In your second list, all but "SPAM" are called "acronyms". So are "radar" (RAdio Detection And Ranging) and "loran" (LOng RAnge Navigation).

  An acronym is a word made from the initial letters OR GROUPS OF LETTERS of other words.

  I'd call "SPAM" a portmanteau word, like "alcoholic" and "blogiversary".

  
  
• [18] D Gertler from Teaneck October 23, 2009 - 01:46PM

  Missed the original broadcast. I like "multipliterals" or "acrotuples."