Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!bionet!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: HWT@bnr.ca (Henry Troup) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: The Real Meaning of ISO Message-ID: <14700@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 14 Nov 90 19:03:00 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 16 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 822, Message 8 of 14 Ole J. Jacobsen writes: > Quick note: ISO does *not* stand for "International Standards > Organization". It is *not* an acronym, but it does refer to the > organzation whose official name is: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR > STANDARDIZATION. This "mistake" is perhaps the most common in the > entire communications industry. Isn't the real "real name" in French? Same as CCITT is "Comitte Consulatif Internationale pour Telefon et Telegraf" (errors in French spelling and lack of accents notwithstanding). I think that the CCITT at least dates from the period where French was the standard language of diplomacy, and therefore international organizations used it as the official language of choice.