How can I tell when an abbreviation is an acronym?


I know an acronym is an abbreviation that can be pronounced as one word, but when is an abbreviation pronounced as one word?


Making myself clearer, how do we know whether or not it is pronounced as one word or not? Is there any definite rule to go by? For example, today, we were discussing "AYAD", whether or not this was an abbreviation or acronym. We didn't know, and we didn't know how to tell whether or not it was an acronym.


So,:



  1. Is there a rule to go by to determine an acronym from an abbreviation?

  2. If there is, what is it?


Can someone please provide some details on this? Cheers!



Answer



The simple answer is, you can't. If you are having a conversation with someone who uses an acronym, the only way you'd know is if they spelled out the letters. Otherwise, you'd simply have to ask. And obviously used in written form such as an e-mail, you'd never know if it were an acronym outside of context. Though a good list can be found here.


A good rule of thumb is that acronyms that might look difficult to sound out are likely spelled instead (FBI, FDA, IBM to name a few).


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