On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:04,  <mike@m...> wrote:
> "abbreviation - a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase,
> used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, lb. for pound.
>
> acronym - a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters
> of words in a set phrase or series of words, as OPEC from Organization
> of Petroleum Exporting Countries."
>
> The dictionary is quite clear so I cannot understand the confusion.
> To qualify as an acronym, the abbreviation must form a *word*.

You may be reading the above definitions a bit odd, but it certainly
isn't clear. It does in fact *not* say that the acronym must form a
word, and, just to really make this a fun game, XML can by some means
be called a word. But don't take it from me. :) From the WikiPedia
entry it specifically says ;

  "There is no universal agreement on the precise
   definition of the various terms nor on written usage."

One of the earliest examples of acronyms in that article is CEO, which
to me is in the exact same category of "words" as XML, FBI, CIA, etc.
Have a look ;

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

There's so many different varieties, with plenty of examples of each.
So, no, things are not that clear.


Alex
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