Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms

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====== Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms ======

It seems that 98.2% of the general population really has no idea what an acronym is, or how they differ, if at all, from abbreviations.  99.4% of the general population has no idea what an initialism is.  So, to clear up any confusion and prevent further embarrassment when talking with friends, speaking in public, or having discussions in meetings, this page explains what abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms are and   provides examples of each.  After reading this, there is no excuse for using the wrong term. 


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===== Abbreviation =====
<wrap def>(ə-brēˌvē-āˈshən) - a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole</wrap>\\
Examples:
  * **Dr.** - Doctor (dokˈtər)  
  * **BTW** - **B**y **T**he **W**ay
  * **lb** - Pound, as in a unit of weight (Meghan Jones provides an explanation for this, [[https://www.rd.com/article/why-pounds-is-lbs/|here]].)
  * **Mr.** - Mister (mĭsˈtər) - Used as a courtesy title before the surname, full name, or professional title of a man.  
  * **Mrs.** - Missus (ˈmisiz) - Mrs. is the diminutive form of Mistress.  It came from the word "mistress" the feminine form of "mister."
  * **U.S.** - for United States



**Bonus Material:** There is a special HTML tag for abbreviations.  It is ''<abbr></abbr>'', and it should include a ''title'' attribute which spells-out the abbreviation. And since initialisms and acronyms are just special cases of abbreviations, this tag should be used for those as well. 

Here is an example:


''<abbr title="National Aeronautics and Space Administration">NASA</abbr>''



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===== Acronym =====
<wrap def>(ăkˈrə-nĭm) - an abbreviation that is **pronounced** as a word\\ - Similar, see **Backronym**, below.</wrap>\\
Examples:

  * **ArcGIS** - This is actually a combination of an acronym (**ARC**) and an initialism (**GIS**), seldom (i.e. never) referred to as an acronysm and even more seldom written acronism (ăkˈrə-nĭzˌəm), and should not to be confused with an anachronism (ə-năkˈrə-nĭzˌəm) which is something different altogether.  ArcGIS stands for **A**eronautical **R**econnaissance **C**overage **G**eographic **I**nformation **S**ystem.  Very few people know this, and even fewer care.  Now, however, ArcGIS simply refers to the suite of software products produced by ESRI (defined below).
  * **ARIA** - **A**ccessible **R**ich **I**nternet **A**pplications
  * **ASAP** - **A**s **S**oon **A**s **P**ossible - sometimes used as an initialism
  * **ASCII** - **A**merican **S**tandard **C**ode for **I**nformation **I**nterchange - a character encoding standard for electronic communication
  * **BOHICA** - **B**end **O**ver **H**ere **I**t **C**omes **A**gain - The name given by employees to many of the programs implemented by INL.
  * **CAPTCHA** - **C**ompletely **A**utomated **P**ublic **T**uring test to tell **C**omputers and **H**umans **A**part - The acronym (pronounced KAP-chə) is the challenge-response test just about everyone has seen when trying to access their online accounts.  Here's a recent example. {{:captcha.jpg?linkonly|}}
  * **Cron** - As in Cronjob.  **C**ommand **R**un **O**n **N**otice
  * **DOS** - **D**isk **O**perating **S**ystem - What we had before Windows.  (Yes, I know that's a pretty lame explanation, but good enough.)
  * **ESRI** - **E**nvironmental **S**ystems **R**esearch **I**nstitute - The acronym (pronounced 'ez-ree') is now the preferred usage however, it is still spoken as an initialism, particularly by long-time (i.e. old) ESRI software users.
  * **FOMO** - **F**ear **O**f **M**issing **O**ut -  The sense that when you're presented with new information, whether via email, seeing a new article in your Facebook or Twitter feeds, or scrolling through notifications on your phone, that if you don't stop everything and consume it immediately, you're going to miss out on something super important that everybody else in the world knows about but you.
  * **F _ _ _**  - **F**ornication **U**nder **C**onsent of the **K**ing - The most popular acronym in the world, and one that few even knew was an acronym.
  * **JSON** - (pronounced "jason" according to its inventor, Douglas Crockford), stands for **J**ava**S**cript **O**bject **N**otation
  * **Laser** - **Li**ght **A**mplification of **S**timulated **E**mission of **R**adiation - Everyone knows what a laser is.
  * **LiDAR** - **Li**ght **D**etection **a**nd **R**anging - A laser version of Radar.  (See Radar, below.)
  * **LORAN** - **L**ong **R**ange **N**avigation - A long range system developed in the United States during World War II.
  * **NASA** - **N**ational **A**eronautics and **S**pace **A**dministration
  * **NATO** - **N**orth **A**tlantic **T**reaty **O**rganization
  * **OPEC** - **O**rganization of the **P**etroleum **E**xporting **C**ountries
  * **PARC** - **P**alo **A**lto **R**esearch **C**enter - PARC is where the computer mouse came from.  They did a few other things as well.
  * **PIN** - **P**ersonal **I**dentification **N**umber, used for just about everything in the world.
  * **Radar** - **RA**dio **D**etecting **A**nd **R**anging
  * **Scuba** - **S**elf-**C**ontained **U**nderwater **B**reathing **A**pparatus
  * **SMART** - As used in 'Smart Goals.'  Stands for **S**pecific, **M**easurable, **A**ttainable, **R**elevant, **T**ime-based.  That's all we really know about this having never been able to successfully set a Smart Goal.
  * **Sonar** - **SO**und **N**avigation **A**nd **R**anging
  * **SQL** - Stands for **S**tructured **Q**uery **L**anguage.  Even though many people pronounce this as a word (sequel), and thereby making it an acronym, that's wrong. It's really an initialism (see below in the Initialism section) and it should be pronounced that way.  (BTW, SEQUEL, was a real acronym back in the 70s when it stood for **S**tructured **E**nglish **Que**ry **L**anguage, but was dropped because it was a trademark of an airplane company.) BTW, this is the only three-letter acronym that I have at the moment, but like I mentioned, it's really used incorrectly.
  * **SWOT** - **S**trengths, **W**eaknesses, **O**pportunities, and **T**hreats - Used as a structured planning method to evaluate these key areas of an organization. My experience has shown that this is just another thing that some people like to do and then try to pass it off as actually being useful.
  * **WYSIWYG** - Pronounced (WIZ-ee-wig) - Stands for "**W**hat **Y**ou **S**ee **I**s **W**hat **Y**ou **G**et."  That phrase, "what you see is what you get", was originally created by Flip Wilson's character Geraldine and it inspired researchers at PARC (and elsewhere) to use the acronym for computer software that allows content to be edited in a form that looks like it will when printed.  Pretty much a useless acronym now, but was popular at one time.
  * **YAGNI** - Stands for "**Y**ou **A**ren't **G**onna **N**eed **I**t" - a principle of extreme programming (XP) that states a programmer should not add functionality until deemed necessary.
  


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===== Initialism =====
<wrap def>(ĭ-nĭshˈə-lĭzˌəm) - an abbreviation that is pronounced one letter at a time</wrap>\\
Examples:
  * **A11Y** - **Accessibility**, the letter "a," followed by 11 letters, followed by "y"
  * **aka** - **a**lso **k**nown **a**s
  * **API** - **A**pplication **P**rogramming **I**nterface
  * **ASAP** - **A**s **S**oon **A**s **P**ossible - sometimes used as an acronym
  * **BFF** - **B**est **F**riends **F**orever
  * **CD** - **C**ompact **D**isc
  * **CGI** - **C**ommon **G**ateway **I**nterface - an interface specification that enables web servers to execute an external program to process HTTP/S user requests.  These programs are commonly referred to as CGI scripts.  Examples include CGI scripts that process form submissions.
  * **CIDR** - **C**lassless **I**nter-**D**omain **R**outing (I use this all the time.)
  * **CSS** - **C**ascading **S**tyle **S**heets
  * **DVD** - **D**igital **V**ideo **D**isc
  * **DYK** - **D**id **Y**ou **K**now
  * **DYC** - **D**o **Y**ou **C**are
  * **e.g.** - from the Latin //**e**xemplī **g**rātiā// ‎(“for example”)
  * **EPA** - **E**nvironmental **P**rotection **A**gency
  * **FAQ** - **F**requently **A**sked **Q**uestions
  * **FBI** - **F**ederal **B**ureau of **I**nvestigation
  * **fka** - **f**ormerly **k**nown **a**s
  * **FOUC** - **F**lash **O**f **U**nstyled **C**ontent (also flash of unstyled text or **FOUT**) - the condition where a web page appears briefly with the browser's default styles prior to loading an external stylesheet, due to the web browser engine rendering the page before all information is retrieved.  Related problems include **f**lash **o**f **i**nvisible **t**ext (**FOIT**) and **f**lash **o**f **f**aux **t**ext (**FOFT**).
  * **FTP** - **F**ile **T**ransfer **P**rotocol
  * **FYI** - **F**or **Y**our **I**nformation
  * **G11N** - **Globalization**, the letter "g," followed by 11 letters, followed by "n" 
  * **GIS** - **G**eographic **I**nformation **S**ystems
  * **GPS** - **G**lobal **P**ositioning **S**ystem
  * **HTML** - **H**yper**T**ext **M**arkup **L**anguage
  * **I18N** - **Internationalization**, the letter "i," followed by 18 letters, followed by "n"
  * **IBM** - **I**nternational **B**usiness **M**achines (also, **I**'ve **B**een **M**oved, as reported by IBM employees at one time)
  * **ICYMI** - **I**n **C**ase **Y**ou **M**issed **I**t
  * **IE** - **I**nternet **E**xplorer.  Many people confuse IE with a web browser.  Technically, IE <del>is</del> was (it officially died on June 21, 2022) a Microsoft Internet document viewer.  A true web browser will open and display web-based files that conform to the W3C standards. IE <del>opens</del> opened and <del>displays</del> displayed web-based files that <del>conform</del> conformed to Microsoft's standards.
  * **i.e.** - from the Latin //**i**d **e**st// (‎“that is”)
  * **L10N** - **Localization**, the letter "l," followed by 10 letters, followed by "n"
  * **nka** - **n**ow **k**nown **a**s
  * **P13N** - **Personalization**, the letter "p," followed by 13 letters, followed by "n"
  * **PhD** - Stands for "**D**octor of **Ph**ilosophy" which appears to be a misnomer since most have never taken a philosophy course in their lives.
  * **PHP** - PHP is a very powerful scripting language.  In the beginning (1995) "PHP" stood for "**P**ersonal **H**ome **P**age."  But that's changed.  It's now a recursive abbreviation and stands for "**P**HP - **H**ypertext **P**reprocessor."
  * **PII** - **P**ersonally **I**dentifiable **I**nformation. Examples include: Full name/usernames, Home address/mailing address, Email address, Credit card numbers, Date of birth, and Phone numbers.
  * **QR**  (as in QR code) - **Q**uick **R**esponse
  * **SFTP** - **S**SH **FTP** (File Transfer Protocol), essentially Secure FTP
  * **SQL** - Stands for **S**tructured **Q**uery **L**anguage and although most people pronounce this as a word, and therefore consider it an acronym, that's wrong.  It's really an initialism and it should be pronounced that way.  See also SQL in the Acronym section, above.
  * **SSH** - **S**ecure **Sh**ell
  * **TFS** - **T**eam **F**oundation **S**erver - something from Microsoft supposedly to aid in the development of software.  Here's an interesting and little known fact.  It was originally called "Productivity Optimization Server," however, confusion resulted since the phrase "Microsoft POS" referred to multiple Microsoft products.
  * **TL;DR** - short for "**T**oo **L**ong; **D**idn't **R**ead" - Internet slang to say that some text being replied to has been ignored because of its length.  Variations include: **ToS;DR** - "Terms of Service; Didn't Read"and **DC;DR** - "Don't Care; Didn't Read",
  * **TMI** - **T**oo **M**uch **I**nformation, or **T**hree **M**ile **I**sland, depending on the context.
  * **URL** - **U**niform **R**esource **L**ocator and is a reference to a resource on the Internet.  It's usually just referred to as the web address.  Some people will pronounce this as if it was an acronym (earl) but that's wrong, and just sounds stupid.
  * **UX** - Guess this is an initialism with a typo.  It stands for **U**ser E**x**perience.
  * **VCS**  - **V**ersion **C**ontrol **S**ystem, a system responsible for managing changes to software, e.g. GIT or SVN
  * **VHS** - **V**ideo **H**ome **S**ystem (nobody ever knew this!)
  * **XKCD** - Ok, this is **NOT** an initialism.  According to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xkcd | this]], it's "just a word with no phonetic pronunciation." I'm putting it here, anyway, because this is probably where someone will go to look for it. [[https://xkcd.com/ | XKCD]] (or xkcd) is "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language."

**Notes on Initialisms** \\
Many people would simply call these abbreviations, which is fine.\\
Many more people would call these acronyms, which is **not** fine.


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===== Other =====
<wrap def>(ŭᴛʜ′ər) - not an abbreviation, and it's not a word, but it's pronounced as if it was a word.</wrap>\\
Examples:
  * **BLOG** - You can pronounce this as a word, but it's not an abbreviation, either.  It's a truncation of "we**b log**."  A blog is essentially a website where the owner publishes content to the web.  They became popular because they don't require any technical skills.  Blogs often allow readers to comment, which are also then published on the site.
  * **email** - Concatenation of "**e**lectronic" and"**mail**."  Used to be that it was written e-mail but I guess Websters decided to change that.
  * **QWERTY** - Pronounced as a word but it's not an abbreviation for anything, it just refers to the standard keyboard layout that’s been in use since people knew what a "carriage return" was.
  * **VLOG** - Can't easily pronounce this, but it's shorthand for "**v**ideo **log**."  Basically a blog but the medium is video.


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===== Backronym =====
<wrap def>(băkˈrə-nĭm) - a constructed phrase that purports to be the source of an acronym.</wrap>\\
Examples:
  * **MOAB** - **M**other **o**f **A**ll **B**ombs (in response to Saddam Hussein's "mother of all battles," but really stands for **M**assive **O**rdnance **A**ir **B**last bomb)
  * **SPAM** - **S**omething **P**osing **A**s **M**eat