Pedants' Paradise

[french frank]

Do I get any support among fellow pedants on holding that 'proper' (oops!) UK usage still reserves 'acronym' for a pronounceable word, and should continue to preserve a useful distinction? Its inclusion of -nym. name, should be respected.

Certainly . ὄνομα is the Greek, so pseudonym, anonym, toponym, synonym, antonym, onomastics etc. (the 'o' at the beginning seems invariable?). Initialism is what it suggests: just the initials: GLC, BCC, MCC, SWMBO, HIGNFY.

Whether we are speaking of the 'proper' usage or the 'precise' usage might be discussed. Also, there seem to be 'hybrid' forms, like jpeg.

(I'd often wondered why acroprops or akroprops were so named, but I discover they are acrow props so my theory was incorrect: today I have learnt something and am glad to have merely mentioned them to a builder in conversation recently and not written anything down).

[vinteuil]

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... the lengthy wiki artickle on acronym covers pretty well the tangle of whether we shd call various sets of letters acronyms, initialisms, abbrevs., or whatevs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym

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[Bryn]

Just heard on BBC News channel in reference to the discovery that Tocilizumab can help in the treatment of COVID-19, that it "speeds up the time in hospital". Wow! That's quite a claim.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just heard on BBC News channel in reference to the discovery that Tocilizumab can help in the treatment of COVID-19, that it "speeds up the time in hospital". Wow! That's quite a claim.

I thought it was getting old that did the latter.

[vinteuil]

I thought it was getting old that did the latter.

... age speeds up time in the Bergsonian sense of duration (la durée) rather than objective time (le temps) -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duration_(philosophy)

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[Bryn]

Let's not forget Sam Melville's "The combination of age and the speed of the passing time" as quoted in Frederic Rzewskii's Coming Together. However, the BBC's hospital would have to be traveling at close to the spped of light to get the time to actually speed up, innit?

[Bryn]

Heard repeatedly on BBC News today "less volunteers". Phew, er?

[oddoneout]

Heard repeatedly on BBC News today "less volunteers". Phew, er?

I gave up on that one long ago, other than a hiss between the teeth when I hear or read it. I just make sure that I do what I consider correct. In any case didn't I read somewhere (possibly even within these hallowed portals) that the difference is debatable ? Or perhaps I'm confusing it with another similar case - happens a lot these days unfortunately.

[french frank]

I gave up on that one long ago, other than a hiss between the teeth when I hear or read it.

Just as well. Documentary evidence confirms the 'misuse' has been perpetrated for at least 700 years (if I remember, the Pedants' Revolt was in 1381 (M. vinteuil will remind me that I last posted this in 2016, and twice previously ):

[Serial_Apologist]

I gave up on that one long ago, other than a hiss between the teeth when I hear or read it. I just make sure that I do what I consider correct. In any case didn't I read somewhere (possibly even within these hallowed portals) that the difference is debatable ? Or perhaps I'm confusing it with another similar case - happens a lot these days unfortunately.

You're right, there has been some debate over the less is fewer issue, both here and on the radio and TV - the putative conclusion reached being that either will do, which left me feeling fewer worried about it all.

[kernelbogey]

...the Pedants' Revolt was in 1381...

...led by Which Tyler.

(IIRC)

[Serial_Apologist]

...led by Which Tyler.

(IIRC)

No it's Witch Tyler: like, we're all witches on the left, destined for the pyre once International Trumpyism spreads its global reach to our halcyon shores...

[vinteuil]

No it's Witch Tyler: like, we're all witches on the left, destined for the pyre once International Trumpyism spreads its global reach to our halcyon shores...

... halcyon shores? What's our martin-pêcheur got to do with this??

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[french frank]

... halcyon shores? What's our martin-pêcheur got to do with this??

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Hmm, it seems (I had to check) that whereas it is usually used figuratively of a period of time, it has also been used 'of a situation, condition, state, etc. calm, tranquil; carefree'. Perhaps Serial was thinking of the post-B****t era?

[vinteuil]

Hmm, it seems (I had to check) that whereas it is usually used figuratively of a period of time, it has also been used 'of a situation, condition, state, etc. calm, tranquil; carefree'.

... if I recall the Greeks thought that the kingfisher made its nest / laid its eggs on the ocean wave - and the preternaturally calm weather required for this was named after the bird

https://www.birdguides.com/articles/halcyon-days/

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