Questions tagged [acronyms]
Acronyms are words which were created by taking the first letter (or several letters) of each word of a phrase.
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When pluralizing a hyphenated acronym, where does the "s" land in the acronym? [duplicate]
The following example uses the acronym for Transportation Rail Specialist - Explosives (TRS-E).
Is the plural (TRSs-E) or (TRS-Es)?
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How to say refer to that section of this other document?
When writing a document, how to say "please refer to a specific section of another document" in a single word or using an acronyms?
For instance, I am writing a document (doc2) which is an extension ...
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Capitalisation in an acronym list
I am writing a technical document with a lot of acronyms. At the start of the document I have an acronym list the spells out in full all the acronyms used in the document. In this table I have ...
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Do you need to use article when using acronym
Do you need an article in a phrase "He moved to US five years ago"? Should it be "He moved to the US five years ago", since "US" is an acronym for something that should be always used with an article, ...
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What does CAQ stand for, in relation to cosmetics?
I recently received a mascara product from Korea. On the top of the product it says "CAQ 20150209".
I did check out the acronymfinder, but most of them have nothing to do with cosmetics. I guess it ...
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How to properly write multiple abbreviations
I have been taught that if you want to use an acronym or abbreviation you should write it in full the first time like this:
World Health Organisation (WHO)
But what happens if there are two or ...
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Capitalization after '3D'
I'm translating for a company that creates specialized 3D software. In a lot of the brochures, there are bullet points for things like '3D road design.' or '3D visibility.' To my eye, the words 'road' ...
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Using "the" with name of research center
The name of our research center is Southeastern Transportation Center, STC is the acronym, of course. In writing, I use STC, not 'the STC' but our director says 'the' is needed so that it reads well. ...
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Tools that help with acronyms and jargon in software requirement documents
Are there any tools that would help with comprehension of technical documents that contain a mix of domain specific and company specific acronyms and jargon?
A tool that is functionally similar to ...
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What is the most proper way to add -ing to acronyms? [duplicate]
Sometimes acronyms represent actions. For example, a Super Smash Bros. player may be said to be "DI-ing" (Directional influencing).
In these situations, what would be the best-established ...
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Plural of irregular or foreign acronyms [duplicate]
What is the correct way of pluralizing acronyms in which the last word is either irregular or a foreign word?
For example: radiation transparent medium (RTM)
What would be the plural of the acronym ...
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Plural possessive of the acronym COA
How do I write the plural possessive of the acronym COA in APA style (which in general doesn't allow for the use of an apostrophe)?
COA = children orphaned by AIDS
Children orphaned by AIDS [...
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Would I use 'The FA' or 'the FA' in a sentence?
I'm writing a sentence that refers to The Football Association and want to shorten it to the FA, but I'm unsure whether I should capitalise the T in 'the' or not because its official name is The ...
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Use of spaces in an acronym with a colon
Is there a space after the colon in an acronym that has a subtitle....should it be COG: S with a space after the colon, or COG:S with not space after the colon?
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Conversion of all-cap acronyms to first letter only; when did NASA become Nasa? [duplicate]
The BBC will often refer to well recognized organizations named by an acronym by capitalizing only the first letter. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration written as all ...
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Adding the 'the' article for proper noun and abbreviation? [duplicate]
As a part-time English tutorial teacher who isn't specialized in language, I would like to ask about article usage for proper nouns and abbreviations.
Do you add 'the' for the following sentences?
"I ...
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Pronunciation of FEIN as acronym in US
According to Wikipedia, FEIN is an abbreviation for Federal Employer Identification Number in the US. Cursory googling shows me that as a name, it could be pronounced fine or like faint, and in german,...
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Is "an" still used in front of acronyms? [duplicate]
For example,
The school has just started an SLA program.
(SLA is second language acquisition.)
Should I use "a" instead of "an" here? Technically, following the rules of "an", I should use "an" ...
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When the first word of an initialism is the same as the initialism [duplicate]
Is there a word for an acronym whose first word is identical to the acronym? There are real-world examples. However, none come to mind so I will fabricate one here.
Face
Acuity
...
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Is an acronym/initialism ever pluralized in its parenthetical introduction?
For example, if the first use of RDA occurs as follows:
"Recommended daily allowances (RDAs) are established by nutritionists after some kind of research...."
Should the parenthetical ...
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What does RSD mean?
This is an acronym referring to
psychological/therapeutic/social work/educational
title/degree/certification.
My Google research yields jack.
I assume R might stand for "registered" but I ...
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What does "v." stand for? [closed]
In in the following sentence, what does the "v." stand for?
The new system was partially indebted to Stanley v. Georgia
Does it mean "Stanley and Georgia" or "Stanley against Georgia"?
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Use of hyphens in acronyms
PTP-SD is a type of algorithm.
PTP stands for "probabilistic tree pruning"
SD stands for "sphere decoding"
PTP-SD is a type of algorithm that uses PTP with SD.
My question is about the use of the ...
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How do you pluralize the first letter of acronym? [duplicate]
How does one pluarlize an acronym (or initialism) when the first letter of the acronym is the one to be pluarlized?
What acronym is to be used for "ways of reasoning" if WoR is "way of reasoning"?
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What's the proper expanded form of RGB and HSL?
I know they mean "Red Green Blue" and "Hue Saturation Lightness", but the Wikipedia articles on each refer to them as "red, green, blue", and "hue-saturation-lightness". Which way, if either, is ...
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Is "off" also an acronym?
I found the term off used in the following way (technical document):
... a total of two (2 off) Single radio channels ...
While the meaning seems pretty clear, I'd like to know what off stands ...
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Are there any rules for mixing capital and small letters in acronyms?
In documentation for electrical vehicles there is a common acronym for "state of charge" that is written as "SoC" or "SOC".
Are both versions equally ok, or are there ...
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Who determines the correct way to pronounce an acronym if the creator never specifies (if the acronym can be pronounced in multiple ways)?
This is more to settle an argument between a buddy and I. There is a program we use that goes by the acronym PRDA (Personnel Records Display Application) which I pronounce as "per-duh" and ...
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Using a or an article before unfamiliar or new termed acronym [duplicate]
I have seen in a number of places, such as this answer, that the usage of a or an in front of an acronym is dependent on the common pronunciation of that acronym.
I am confused for the following ...
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Is it correct to say "PC computer"?
In Hebrew, it is common to say "מחשב PC". The word "מחשב" means "computer", of any kind, and PC, well, a PC - personal computer.
While translating a technical document today I saw this being used, ...
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What does "GQ" mean in this scholarly context? [closed]
I searched the acronym but it apparently stands for all sorts of phrases. Here's the context:
Imāmīs also claim that the Sunnīs omitted or suppressed Sūrat
al-Nūrayn, “The Two Lights”; cf. Ar. ...
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Proper Acronym Usage With Multiple Plurals
Given that MOTU -> Master of the Universe - One master of one universe
.
Would the following be correct? And if not, what would be correct, and how would I answer the plural-plural problem at the ...
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How to add clarity to an acronym that is already a word
Where I'm working we have an acronym spelled "was" and I'm wondering is there a way to clearly distinguish it from the verb? According to here "acronyms...usually do not require periods" so is this a ...
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What’s it called when you use more than the first letters of words in making an acronym?
I’ve noticed acronyms that aren’t the traditional first letters of a series of words. For example MOND Modified Newtonian Dynamics.
Is there a word to describe this different kind of acronym?
If not ...
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Capitalization of acronyms - maybe there is no definite correctness for all cases?
Is it correct to capitalize the acronym when it is a name? Sometimes it is dubious whether it's a name or a word, for example SQL, ANSI, GNU and more would be considered a name so it should be ...
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Pronunciation of an acronym as a word - C as a stop or a fricative [closed]
At my place of work in the US at an agency, there is an acronym that is fairly well known: FOCI
I've noticed some pronounce it "FOSI" (with a sibilant(?) C) and some "FOKI" (with a ...
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Does "English as a Second Language" literally mean 2nd or can it mean 3rd or 4th?
I know an ESL teacher and he has students where English isn't their 2nd, but their 3rd and even 4th language.
That got me thinking, why is it "English as a Second Language" and not something ...
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Past tense of MOT? [duplicate]
I'm usually quite good at this kind of thing but can't decide on this.
When describing when a car has had its MOT (Ministry of Transport) test do I write...
Recently MOTd
Recently MOT'd
Recently ...
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We are physicists and we are arguing over the use of "a" and "an" [duplicate]
Here is the situation. I am in an office full of physicists and one physicist is writing his PhD Thesis. Fundamentally, he wants to know whether he should type "an SV" or "a SV" into the computer.
SV ...
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WOE, in texting?
I would like to know how the acronym WOE (which could also mean "what on earth"), came to mean a "friend or associate" in texting.
Thanks.
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Defining abbreviations/acronyms in unobtrusive ways [closed]
There are many complex acronyms that aren't necessarily built from the beginning letter of each sub-unit syllable or word (examples at the end of this post). Sometimes these terms are so common making ...
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Is "FOIL", used as a verb, understandable outside New York State?
FOIA = Freedom of Information Act (federal U.S. law)
FOIL = Freedom of Information Law (New York State)
From this, I have frequently heard and read FOIL used as a verb, by journalists and ordinary ...
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Acronym within an acronym, academic writing
I'm preparing a manuscript for publication in a medical journal about Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). I understand that I have to define the acronym IBD once, when first used in the text (...
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Is the term PoWs (POWs) inconsistent with typical acronym pluralization? [duplicate]
Prompted by recent remembrance day celebrations, it seems to me that the term PoWs is inconsistent with pluralization conventions.
Runs Batted In --> RBI
Prisoners of War--> PoW (shouldn't this ...
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How to say the plural of IP? [duplicate]
Can someone assist me with this doubt? In many sites I have seen it written as "IP's" and in other as "IPs".
What is the correct form to refer for the plural of IP?
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How to define an acronym? using capital or small letters?
Consider the following sentence:
"Those elements are called Super Elements (SE)".
It is ok to write like that ? Or should I write:
"Those elements are called super elements (SE)".
or would it be ...
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Word or phrase that describes a group of acronymic initials that can be any order
Typical acronyms represent a phrase with a fixed word order. For example, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is not coherent when reordered to, say, ATNO (Atlantic Treaty North Organization).
...
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What is the spell-out form of ‘FUPA’ as an acronym for ‘a protruding lower belly’?
Tina Fey lists up 26 ‘deficiencies’ that women are buying a product to correct them, which starts with the first seven:
-big pores
-oily T-zone
-cankles
-lunchlady arms
-fivehead,
-nipples too ...
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Double acronym/initialism: acronyms and initialisms that stand for two things simultaneously
I am looking for a term that describes an acronym that has two possible expansions, but both expansions refer to the same thing. The term "double acronym" doesn't appear to be widely used and is ...
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Pronunciation of OS X versions [closed]
I don't feel like this belongs on SU, so I put it here.
I know that "OS X" is pronounced "oh-ess ten," but how should the common construction "OS X 10.9" be pronounced?
The primary possibility I can ...
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