Comment | I always thought that acronyms were a type of abbreviation in which the first letter(s) of the words in a phrase are taken to form a new word. So laser, NATO, AIDS or snafu would be acronyms, but HTH, EU or TUC wouldn't. In the Harry Potter series, Hermione forms a "society for the protection of elvish welfare" (or similar words to that effect with the same initials), SPEW in short. Her friends speak it as an acronym, Hermione doesn't. Other acronyms in Rowling's books include the exams (OWLs and NEWTs) taken by the young wizards; Dumbledore's Army, on the other hand, is abbreviated to "DA", which is not an acronym. Gestapo, to me, is an acronym because the first letters (capitalized by me) of "GEheime STAatsPOlizei" form a new word. "Kfz" is an abbreviation because it is not a new word, but spoken letter by letter. The same is true of DDR, BRD etc. "Nazi" is debatable. |
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