Things I didn’t know prior to today, that I have now learned and retained with interest.

Also known as: a fun fact

An abbreviation is the shortening of a word or collection of words, such as: “ex.” for “example”

An acronym is an abbreviation of a collection of words, made by taking the first letter of each word of a phrase, and that forms a word. For instance: “SCUBA” for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus is an acronym, whereas “DoD” for Department of Defense is only an abbreviation.

Therefore, any shortening of a word or phrase is an abbreviation, but not necessarily an acronym.

There is some contention with these definitions, and it seems that the more colloquially accepted definition of acronym is: any collection of letters made from the first letters of the words in a phrase, whether or not they form a pronounceable word. Apparently, though, only those abbreviations that form actual words are strictly considered acronyms.

So there you go. Discuss.

Also, a blog is supposed to link to other people or things from time to time, so let me pay my dues.

A couple blogs I’ve been skulking in for the last few months:

volatile.org is the blog of a painfully beautiful and articulate girl, who’s travel stories alone could keep me enthralled for years.

tonypierce.com is beautiful in an entirely different way. An alma mater of my, errr, alma mater, and creator of a blog with fascinating lies.