A list of 10 words by tankhughes.
- cfwas added by tankhughes and appears on 2 lists
- HBDwas added by ruzuzu and appears on just this list
- EPOwas added by tankhughes and appears on 3 lists
- OB/GYNwas added by tankhughes and appears on just this list
- QTwas added by tankhughes and appears on 3 lists
- BBQwas added by tankhughes and appears on 5 lists
- TVwas added by bilby and appears on 5 lists
- PJswas added by tankhughes and appears on 2 lists
- TBwas added by tankhughes and appears on just this list
- IDwas added by tankhughes and appears on 4 lists
tankhughes commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
These don't even necessarily break on a morpheme boundary, you know? On a consonant cluster. Maybe ID is different. I need more examples. Morphology is wild.
ProJects PaJama TuBerculis IDentification
July 13, 2022
tankhughes commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
State abbreviations do this out of necessity, with so many states starting with the same letters - AK AL AR AZ, MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT
July 13, 2022
ruzuzu commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
Oh, jinx! I was just coming here to say that about states. Some people's names do this, too: Jo, Ed, etc. (though then there's the whole Elizabeth, Margaret, Betsy, and Bess thing to ponder).
Edit: Wait. Duh. Are you just looking for the ones where you'd say it like an initialism? (In which case this list is even cooler.)
July 13, 2022
tankhughes commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
ruzuzu I don't care how it's pronounced, I care that normally, it's larger phrases that are turned into acronyms, even if it's just 2 letters (HR for human resources, or PB for peanut butter, OJ, TP, etc) but these just kinda break up one word in a place where it's not immediately obvious that you could do that. TD for touch/down is kind of similar, but I can see that logic of breaking on the compound, where as I'd think tuberculosis could be abbreviated in a whole lot of other ways instead of TB. TC for tuber/culosis, tubey, 'culosis, t-losis. (It's a serious medical thing, so probably not too many nicknames, but still, other shortenings feel a lot more likely).
And it also baffles me that this strange abbreviation method has turned into PJ twice. That's what kicked this off.
July 13, 2022
tankhughes commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
New potential category: measurements. cm km ft hr GB MB etc. I don't know if I'd call hr or ft an acronym, but it's being similarly shortened into a 2-letter entity.
July 13, 2022
tankhughes commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
Maybe Jr for junior. Can be pronounced J.R., not quite treated like an acronym.
July 13, 2022
w commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
The aforementioned US state abbreviations also feed into some state university abbreviations: UGA UKY UMD UMN UVA UVM
July 22, 2022
w commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
How does one read aloud "cf.", abbreviation of Latin "confer"? I say /si ef/, which fits this list. Perhaps others say "confer" or translate on the fly to "compare" or "compare with".
July 22, 2022
ruzuzu commented on the list abbreviations-into-acronyms-QGBtAKUtfn64-q-17Y0TZ
Oh! That's a good one, w. I've also heard people say "I,D" for id. (cf. ibid).
July 22, 2022