Is there a list of words that don't need their own letters in an acronym?


When building an acronym, there are occasionally small words that can "slip through the cracks". For example, U.S.A actually stands for United States of America. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The word 'the' is another one that is left out here and there.


Is there a definitive list of words that are allowed to be left out of acronyms? Is it all just subjective and a case-to-case basis? I'm asking because I'm currently working on an acronym, and I don't think the word "with" requires it's own letter.



Answer



I don't think there is any definitive ruling on this. If you're building an acronym, then you decide to include or not include stop words. The objective should be to make the acronym more memorable or easier to say. I've reversed engineered acronyms for IT systems and I may or may not include stop words. Whatever works.


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