Acronyms vs. Initials

An example of INITIALS

(I refrain from listing the words this group of initials represent in order to maintain a pseudo-family atmosphere here at The Thirsty Spittoon.)

I am neither against "texting language," nor am I on a dutiful mission to eliminate it as other language preservationists pointlessly attempt; the learning of any language has been proven to stimulate the mind, fostering deeper and clearer thinking, so I'm actually a proponent of the use of "texting language." With this post, I simply want to clarify definitions of certain literary terms and explain what "is" or what "is not" an acronym. The word has become extremely overused, and overused incorrectly. Now, knowing I don't believe in absolutes or subscribe to the theory of "correct" or "proper" grammar, I must draw the line when it comes to butchering the meanings of already established words; words harboring no connotation, words that do not inspire or elicit an emotional response; words simply existing and in use to label and categorize, so multiple or inferential meanings of these words should never exist.

So with the above being written, here is my squabble (more or less simply defining and providing examples of the words in question) with "texting language," or any other created nomenclature, whether professional or personal, corporate or casual:

Initials are a group of letters formed form the initial letters of a larger group of words (e.g. wtf, lol, brb, ttys, omg, rofl, ATM, ADHD) where EACH letter is pronounced singularly.

Acronyms are a group of letters formed from the initial letters of each of the main words of a separate entity (not simply a longer sentence, phrase, or group of random words strung together) with the distinction of pronunciation as a singular word (e.g. asap, scuba, NATO, laser, taser, AIDS, radar; don't believe the letters in a few of these commonly used acronyms stand for something? Google 'em, you'll be pleasantly surprised.)

NOTE: the pronounceable "word" created by an acronym does NOT have to be an already established word; it simply must be pronounceable as one word. 

  

An example of an ACRONYM

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Acronyms can be considered initials on steroids, but they are still completely different because we pronounce  the letters together as one word, such as the above example.

These popular "texting language" phrases, basically initials for longer thoughts or phrases, are NOT acronyms, people!

Examples of INITIALS, but NOT ACRONYMS

(You pronounce each of the letters in these examples, not one of them being pronounced together as a singular word)

Just to add extra clarification:

Abbreviations are a group of letters (rarely only one letter as in "R" for Thursday; and yes, "R" is the correct abbreviation for Thursday), shortened or contracted used to represent the whole (eg. Dr., Mr., Mrs., MI, OH, FL, TX, CA, Rx, lb., ps., am., pm.)

  

Acrostics are a poetic device, using the individual letters of a word (any letter in the word would suffice, although the initial letters of the word are usually used), forming a complete thought or listing words adjoined to the main word of the poem.

NOTE: Acrostics are commonly confused with acronyms because they usually form an already-established word, but the words representing each letter are neither connected, nor do they represent a separate entity, but are used to poetically describe or emphasize the main word of the poem.)

An example of an ACROSTIC

Oh, and don't worry, the texting advocates of this world aren't the only ones who perpetuate this literary blunder; Academics do as well: People who teach our youth regularly refer to their initialized programs, procedures, documents, and other such attributes as acronyms, so I guess I can understand why this confusion between acronyms and initials is such a widespread problem. The below picture represents a list, presented as a list of acronyms, by an unknown school system concerning special education, but only 15 of the entries qualify as acronyms (circled in yellow), the rest are initials (although, UPASS, UPPAC, and USTAR are on the borderline; however, ASAP is considered an acronym because most of it can be pronounced and is in common usage.)