initialisms

[Writer61]

No, a contraction is when you take two words, and combine them with an apostrophe, such as "Don't". "Appt." is an abbreviation, a shortened version of the word appointment.

If you are going to correct someone, at least do it correctly.

We are both right. See this entry from the Chambers English Dictionary:



FWIW I think this might be a British vs American English thing. In 60 years, I have never come across the word "initialism" before.

 

[GrantBricksly]

From the same dictionary you claimed to use....

 

[Writer61]

From the same dictionary you claimed to use....


View attachment 2669576

I used the online app version. Curious difference.

I resent your implication that I am lying.

 

[Britva415]

Contractions are abbreviations but not all abbreviations are contractions.

 

[GrantBricksly]

Sorry, wasn't trying to imply you were lying.

That was poor wording on my part.

 

[GrantBricksly]

That's actually pretty funny. I didn't take that as the implication at all.

You'd rather think that you're being accused of being dishonest than of being uninformed?

For someone who seems to be appealing to "assume good faith," that's a bit... inconsistent.

No, I get it...it did kinda come across that way...but it was not my intention.

Let's just let it go.

 

[Britva415]

it did kinda come across that way

I see what you mean. The "claimed" bit didn't register for me until later.

 

[Writer61]

That's actually pretty funny. I didn't take that as the implication at all.

You'd rather think that you're being accused of being dishonest than of being uninformed?

For someone who seems to be appealing to "assume good faith," that's a bit... inconsistent.

That is a perverse conclusion.

I was neither lying nor uninformed, nor acting in bad faith.

 

[Britva415]

That is a perverse conclusion.

I was neither lying nor uninformed, nor acting in bad faith.

I missed the specific thing you were reacting to. My mistake.

 

[Writer61]

BTW, found this interesting article:

https://www.transcendwithwords.com/post/british-english-and-american-english-the-use-of-quotation-marks-1

 

[TheLobster]

BTW, found this interesting article:

https://www.transcendwithwords.com/...american-english-the-use-of-quotation-marks-1

Interesting, but there are some odd things in there.

'Mistress' is apparently the full form for all of 'Mrs.', 'Miss', and 'Ms.', and I don't think is the case. Especially not for 'Ms.', which has specifically been coined to avoid having to specify the woman's marital status.
GOP is given as an example of an acronym pronounced as a word, but never in my life I've heard it said as anything other than gee-oh-pee.
'tbsp' and 'tsp' aren't initialisms, they are using symbols like 'kg' that are closer to contractions. This foible is especially strange since it's followed immediately by a table of more well-known units.

Still a good article overall. The point about using dots in certain contractions in AmE was worth noting to me in particular, as I'd been making the mistake of writing 'Dr.' or 'Mr.' without dots in some of my earlier stories.