• buttnugget@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Sorry, that’s not correct. Acronym is the word we use for both when it forms a word and for an initialism. They are all acronyms. Perhaps next you’ll tell me that decimate means reduce by ten percent?

    • xeekei@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      Ah, the “language evolves” defence. How come everytime it evolves it’s in the less useful direction?

    • YouShouldSeeMyAlt@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      @[email protected] is right.

      An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a single word.

      An abbreviation is a shortened version of a word or phrase used to save time and space, avoid repetition, or follow convention.

      All acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms.

      SMH and ATM are both abbreviations. NASA, radar, laser etc. are all acronyms.

      • buttnugget@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        As I said, that is not correct. Language is how people use it, and people use the term acronym to describe all of these things. This is not a technical discussion.

        • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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          4 days ago

          If someone uses a screwdriver as a hammer, does that make the screwdriver a hammer because that’s how a person used it?

          SMH my head.

          • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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            24 hours ago

            if everyone started using “hammer” to refer to a long object used to turn screws, would you sit there having a tantrum and calling it a screwdriver?

            or would you just fucking call it a hammer so people understand you, and move on with your life

            • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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              22 hours ago

              How long would that take, and how many people would it take? Right now, pretty much everyone is calling a screwdriver a screwdriver, you’re pretty much the only one having a fit.

              Good day, sir or madam, and may the world treat you and your condition with compassion.

          • buttnugget@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            I know it may be difficult to imagine, but if people call a screwdriver a hammer, that’s what it becomes. Language evolves and it’s biological. It’s really bizarre that y’all struggle with this so much.

          • buttnugget@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            I’m sorry you don’t understand language but I can’t both explain it to you and make you think correctly. You have to do the second part on your own. I do believe you can get there though.