What is an acronym?

[Т А Кузнецова]

What's an Acronym?

An acronym is a kind of abbreviation. The word comes from Greek, meaning heads of names. Acronyms are usually made from the capitalised initials of the words it represents, for example FBI is an acronym for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Occasionally, for special reasons, the second letter of a word is used, as in XML (eXtensible Markup Language), but this is deprecated. Sometimes more than one letter is included for a word, to avoid ambiguity or because they form an existing abbreviation, as in SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe)

Contrary to what some sources say, acronyms do not have to be pronounceable words (for example FBI is spelled out when spoken, whereas NASA is not). Some sources use the word initialism to refer to the spelled acronyms: http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronym).

Here is an activity how to deal with acronyms:

Display the following list of acronyms on an OHP:

 

AFAIK, ASAP, FAQ, FYI, IMO, IYSWIM, JAM, NRN, OTOH, TIA

 

Ask the learners to work in pairs and assign possible meanings to as many of the acronyms as possible.

 

After a couple of minutes, ask them what they have come up with.

 

Solution:

AFAIK – As Far As I Know

ASAP - As Soon As Possible

FAQ - Frequently Asked Question

FYI - For Your Information

IMO - In My Opinion

IYSWIM - If You See What I Mean

JAM - Just A Minute

NRN - No Reply Necessary (or Needed)

OTOH - On The Other Hand

TIA - Thanks In Advance