An anacronym is an acronym or an abbreviation so old
or familiar that no one remembers what its letters stand for, such as
BASIC or COBOL. By the way, an "acronym" is not just any abbreviation.
It's a word that is short for other words, usually using their initial
letters. An abbreviation formed of letters that don't form a word is sometimes
known as an "initialism." Our Webster's cites "snafu"
and "radar" as examples of acronyms. (Good examples of anacronyms,
too!) But "snafu" and "radar" seem like acronyms that
have passed into general usage (notice the all lower case). Most of today's
acronyms are still all upper case; only a few will ever become generic.
An example of an acronym that probably won't become lower-cased is WINS
(Windows Internet Naming Service).
|
