1003
submitted 2 months ago by Deceptichum@quokk.au to c/memes@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] lime@feddit.nu 6 points 2 months ago

LEGO is too an acronym. it stands for Leg Godt, Danish for "play well"

[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

That's...not an acronym. That'd just be LG.

[-] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 2 months ago
[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

It's an abbreviation.

Not all abbreviations are acronyms, only the ones that take the first letter from each word. Lego takes two letters from each word, so it's not an acronym.

On a similar note, some but not all acronyms are initialisms, if they're spoken as the letters rather than the "word" they create.

FYI, DIY, PS are all initialisms, and also acronyms, and also abbreviations. ASAP, SCUBA, and LASER are acronyms and abbreviations, but not initialisms. Lego, appt, and st are all abbreviations but neither acronyms nor initialisms.

[-] RustyEarthfire@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I think the "correct" usage of acronym is only when it is spoken as a word. But language evolves and all that.

You can see the tension in the way MW defines it (including the extended description). Like: here's the definition of the word, but some people use it when they actually mean initialism. This is in contrast to your more concise and cohesive definition of "[abbreviations] that take the first letter from each word". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acronym

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I always thought acronym is a subset of initialism, not the other way around.

[-] lime@feddit.nu 2 points 2 months ago

why is english like this... we just call it "shortening".

[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Why does a language have different words for different concepts?

[-] lime@feddit.nu 4 points 2 months ago

in my language we tend to use base words to broadly describe concepts, and combinations of words for more accuracy.

[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago

That's a really good breakdown of the differences!

Now if you'll excuse me I have a few Ell-Ee-Gee-Oh sets to put together. :p

this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
1003 points (97.4% liked)

memes

10547 readers
1737 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/AdsNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.

Sister communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS