Posted by Robert Dilley on September 03, 2004 at 02:20:19 from 206.186.44.148 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: Three letters? posted by Harry Miller on September 02, 2004 at 18:53:28:
A little late, but I feel it is too long since I have come in with one of my pedantic nit-picks.
Properly, an acronym is a set of initials that make a pronounceable word. So NATO, ANZAC are acronyms. Unpronounceable abbreviations (BBC, IBM} are initialisms.
However, I expect that, in the normal process bemoaned by unreconstructed pedants like me, the term "acronym" will become used so widely for all collections of initials that the original meaning will be lost.