[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Initialism is a new[ish] word to me. I don't recall it from my childhood. We had abbreviations, some of which are acronyms, or to put it a different way, acronyms are a special case of abbreviation. Initialism is not in my Shorter Oxford English Dictionary of 1964, which it ought to be even if it was an obscure word at that time. According to Merriam Webster (online) it is older than acronym, which dates from 1940s. But guess what! My SOED also does not list the word acronym! True, that word would have been very young way back then. In fact, according to google define, it dates only to the 1950s.

That etymology is definitely interesting I'm not sure if the SOED is abridged, resulting in it omitting words that are not in the mainstream.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Merriam Webster claims that research shows acronym being used for abbreviations that do not make words. Well, of course it does: fewer and fewer people know its meaning!

That's true, I think the pressure of popular usage is slowly going to erode its distinct meaning, and make it a synonym of abbreviation.

It is like how 'decimate' flipped from historically meaning 'kill one in ten', to its present day meaning of 'kill a majority' - purely through changing norms of usage.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm not sure if the SOED is abridged

Certainly it is, hence Shorter. It is shorter than the full Oxford English Dictionary, which takes up a whole shelf. The "shorter" one is a mere two, large volumes

"Acronym" has already replaced "abbreviation." Nobody on this forum uses the latter word any longer. This makes me sad: how hard is it to use the right word and save that word from dying out?

[binand]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Merriam Webster claims that research shows acronym being used for abbreviations that do not make words.
[...]
"Acronym" has already replaced "abbreviation." This makes me sad: how hard is it to use the right word and save that word from dying out?

I used to think so too; but now I feel this is how languages evolve. The word "girl", for example, originally meant "a child of any gender" but now indicates females specifically, and not just a child (nowadays "little girl" is the female child; an example of retronym I'd say).

[Thad E Ginathom]

It is how language changes, but it is not evolution. It is not changing for the better.

"Girl" is an unfortunate choice. It must be thirty years since my feminist friend told me firmly that "girls" are children, whereas grown-up female adults are women. I saw her point. It will be a while before India does, though. Maybe another twenty years?

[tilt]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

*SNIP* It is every bit as good as it's ancestor. *SNIP

"It's" means "It is". I am guessing what you meant to type was "its" (possessive).

So you may as well have typed "It's every bit as good as its ancestor."

I promise you, I did my best to resist responding, but the spirit was weak

Cheers

[Thad E Ginathom]

... and so it should have been. Those of us that throw stones shouldn't mind getting a black eye.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Sounds like something our jokers do.

I am usually confused between abbreviations and acronyms. So AIDS or NASA is an acronym. But POW? or FBI? Anyway, in life, it helps best to be a little confused. Adds spice.

I heartily concur! What would life be without the sting of pure mustard for a Bengali like me?

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

"Girl" is an unfortunate choice. It must be thirty years since my feminist friend told me firmly that "girls" are children, whereas grown-up female adults are women.

When my wife has her girl friends over for an all-girls bash, I usually say 'girls' or 'ladies'. "Girls should I drop you home". Instead of "woman should I drop you home". Or given their age something more 'older' might be appropriate, like 'Soon to be senior women citizens, should I drop you home' Ouch, Ouch, honey don't hit me, Ouch.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

When my wife has her girl friends over for an all-girls bash, I usually say 'girls' or 'ladies'. "Girls should I drop you home". Instead of "woman should I drop you home". Or given their age something more 'older' might be appropriate, like 'Soon to be senior women citizens, should I drop you home' Ouch, Ouch, honey don't hit me, Ouch.

Please. Be Indian. "Aunty".

You'll never be invited to their place again, but your wife will have a good laugh while you're at it. ;-)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Please. Be Indian. "Aunty".

The daughters of our gardener's family used to visit our house regularly. I remember, one day, a girl of 16-ish being absolutely furious that someone on the bus had called her "Aunty!"

Come to think of it, I think her sister had had a child by then, so she was, literally, an aunt. Now, years later, she is married with her own children. And probably regularly called Aunty!

[Ithaca]

With regards to "Woman" & "Lady"
I have a noob question.
I find reasonably educated folks mixing both of them up.
While I was in school, it was drilled into us that "Lady" referred to women of higher standing - economic, social or financial.
So essential every "Lady" was a woman but every woman was not a "Lady".

How far is this correct.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by Ithaca

While I was in school, it was drilled into us that "Lady" referred to women of higher standing - economic, social or financial.
So essential every "Lady" was a woman but every woman was not a "Lady".

The definition you've been taught is technically correct, and is similar to the relationship between gentleman vs. man.

In modern day usage, however, it is common to refer to any woman as 'lady' (edit: in the third person), out of politeness. So in India, we'd even refer to maids or clerks as 'lady' when referring to them in the third person:

"Hey, there's a lady at the door asking for you"
"Oh yeah, she's the maid who was recommended to us"

"The lady behind that counter asked me to get your signature first"

It's an interesting distinction, because I find that if the genders were swapped, I'd probably not use 'gentleman' instead:

"Hey, there's a man at the door asking for you"
"Oh yeah, that's the gardener who was recommended to us"

Maybe we're just conditioned to being more respectful towards women.

Originally Posted by binand

On the contrary, in some circumstances it could even be construed as rude/sexist. Like: "Lady, that's my foot you're standing on" :-). Also see: https://debuk.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/call-me-woman/.

Isn't that the difference between third party and first party use? I don't think there's any case where using 'lady' in the first person comes across well, the preferred alternative would be 'ma'am'.

OK - that blog post touches on feminist preferences for phrases/terms - I'm not even going to touch that with a bargepole on a public forum!

[binand]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

"Girl" is an unfortunate choice. It must be thirty years since my feminist friend told me firmly that "girls" are children,

Apart from the obvious "girlfriend" and "my girl", I think popular culture of 20th century is full of references to grown-up women as girls. It was in '67 that Jim Morrison told his girl that he'd be accused of mendacity if he were to suggest that they couldn't get much higher, wasn't it?

Originally Posted by arunphilip

In modern day usage, however, it is common to refer to any woman as 'lady', out of politeness.

On the contrary, in some circumstances it could even be construed as rude/sexist. Like: "Lady, that's my foot you're standing on" :-). Also see:

https://debuk.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/call-me-woman/

(Aside: Lady Time is a euphemism for menstruation days, considered sexist now).

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Ouch, Ouch, honey don't hit me, Ouch.

Now, you can also say "Aiyoh, honey don't hit me"...and still be using propah English.

[binand]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

Now, you can also say "Aiyoh, honey don't hit me"...and still be using propah English.

The report starts with:

'Aiyoh' is a quintessential word used extensively in South India.

Quintessential means "typical or representative". There is no doubt that aiyoh is a typical word; but probably the author's intention was to say 'Aiyoh is a quintessentially South Indian word'. :-)