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Dear Sir
This is concerning two interesting linguistic notes that appeared in BMJ
of 6 February 1999.
In the note by J. Aronson (p.376) the Greek letter n (ny) has been
systematically replaced by u (ypsilon). I noticed that less and less
colleagues are comfortable with the Greek alphabet nowadays.
As to the note by P. Riis (p. 386), the word "acronym" has been used
incorrectly. Acronyms are, by definition, those abbreviations that are
suited for oral presentations. To give only two examples from
dictionaries:
Graham King, in his "Dictionary of Abbreviations and Ac-ronyms"
published by Mandarin, refers to "Abbreviations and their smart cousins,
acronyms" and define acronyms as abbre-viations "where the initials of a
phrase or saying form a meaningful word".
Webster's popular encyclopedia (Chancellor Press, London 1994)
defines acronym as "A word formed from the initial let-ters and/or
syllabes of other words, intended as a pronounce-able abbreviation".
In other words, "ESRF" is not an acronym, whereas such word as "AIM"
(for "African Initiative for Malaria control") is.
Such loose use of the word "acronym" is, unfortunately, becoming
widespread.
I wish all the best to your journal that I find a pleasant and
rewarding reading.
Yours sincerely
Dr A E Beljaev
Regional Advisor on malaria
WHO EMRO
Alexandria
Egypt
Much as I appreciate the opportunity to improve my knowledge of the
English language in the 'When I use a word' series, I just wonder if there
is a need for a series of articles on elementary greek. The letter
upsilon was used in place of the letter nu in several places in the
article 'Homogenous/homogeneous' when rendering words such as 'genesis'.
The letters look similar, but I would hope that those who hope to educate
us on matters of language know the difference between them.
Acronyms
Dear Sir
This is concerning two interesting linguistic notes that appeared in BMJ
of 6 February 1999.
In the note by J. Aronson (p.376) the Greek letter n (ny) has been
systematically replaced by u (ypsilon). I noticed that less and less
colleagues are comfortable with the Greek alphabet nowadays.
As to the note by P. Riis (p. 386), the word "acronym" has been used
incorrectly. Acronyms are, by definition, those abbreviations that are
suited for oral presentations. To give only two examples from
dictionaries:
Graham King, in his "Dictionary of Abbreviations and Ac-ronyms"
published by Mandarin, refers to "Abbreviations and their smart cousins,
acronyms" and define acronyms as abbre-viations "where the initials of a
phrase or saying form a meaningful word".
Webster's popular encyclopedia (Chancellor Press, London 1994)
defines acronym as "A word formed from the initial let-ters and/or
syllabes of other words, intended as a pronounce-able abbreviation".
In other words, "ESRF" is not an acronym, whereas such word as "AIM"
(for "African Initiative for Malaria control") is.
Such loose use of the word "acronym" is, unfortunately, becoming
widespread.
I wish all the best to your journal that I find a pleasant and
rewarding reading.
Yours sincerely
Dr A E Beljaev
Regional Advisor on malaria
WHO EMRO
Alexandria
Egypt
Competing interests: No competing interests