strathspey@strathspey.org:44564

GOSS9@telefonica.net

Re: Acronyms and abbreviations (was emcee)

March 8, 2006, 2:17 p.m. (Message 44564, in reply to message 44557)

True here in Spain. In fact most people my my part do not understand 
Basque, but know that ETA pronounced as spelled, means a terrorist 
group, even without knowing or understanding the acronym. The real 
problem is for outsiders encountering the daily paperfor the first 
time. When I first attended a Scottish university, I was a bit 
overwhelmed by the number of university specific acronyms encountered. 

Having said that, the real problem here is that when one starts with a 
consonant such as M, N, L, F, H, R, S, W, X, the initial sound is not 
picked up. 

Related story about how acronyms travel. At the end of the season two 
summers ago, I was the only one doing laps in the village pool, and the 
lifeguard did not even bother to dress out. I asked what would happen 
if I had a problem to which she answered, that she would probably get 
her clothes wet. I then asked, BTW what does one say for help in this 
part of Spain?

when her response sounded like the English word "sauce", I asked what 
it meant, thinking some obscure Mallorquí or Arabic word. She said she 
did not know, but that is what they say. That night in a bar, I 
repeated this story and my question, and got laughed at. The word got 
started from those little "help" phones on the major highways on the 
island. The phone boxes say "SOS".