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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mmm.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mmm!mrgofor
From: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Searching for a word
Message-ID: <484@mmm.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Feb-86 15:25:13 EST
Article-I.D.: mmm.484
Posted: Mon Feb 10 15:25:13 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Feb-86 06:29:28 EST
References: <361@uw-june>
Reply-To: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR)
Organization: 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn.
Lines: 23
Keywords: acronym

In article <361@uw-june> pablo@uw-june (David Cohn) writes:
>
>Here lies my question: I need, in order to efficiently answer the questions
>of others, the word that is the antonym of 'acronym'. Maybe 'the expansion
>of', but that doesn't sound right. I've been using the term 'anacronym'
>(pronounced like 'anachronism' with the 's' dropped). For example,
>"International Buusiness Machines (tm) is the anacronym of IBM (also tm)".
>
>In a world where we're being abbreviated past all common sense by the
>military and others who like to make us think that they know what's going on
>and noone else does, I'd think there'd be some call for a real English 
>(American, or any other ASCII language) word for anacronyms. Am I mistaken?
>Am I in the wrong newsgroup? Or should I just call Willard Espy (not tm)
>and ask him in person?
>------------
>respectfully, 
>   -p

As a side note - can anyone verify a piece of trivia I picked up somewhere?
I heard that "acronym" itself is an acronym. If so, does anyone know what
it stands for?

--MKR