ICYMI (in case you missed it), acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms are ways to shorten phrases and ideas both in normal speech and through texting and email. But a common FAQ (frequently asked ...

Initially, I didn't think I could say a lot about acronyms. I was wrong. An acronym uses the first letters of a few words to form a new word. The purpose is to shorten a long string of words to one ...

I often remove unwieldy acronyms from articles I'm editing. The writer might assume that all readers know that acronym, but that often isn't so. Webster's New World College Dictionary defines an ...

I read with some amusement the letter from John Neumeyer regarding the use of acronyms in the literature without identifying their meaning (C&EN, March 30, page 2). I used to believe that any ...

Are you confused with Internet language? Did you know ‘SMH’, for example, has been so pervasive, it has managed to cement its place in the online Oxford dictionary. The company analysed the number of ...

Everyone knows LOL means laugh out loud, but how do you say it? Is it el-oh-el? What about as one fluid word "lawl"? Or maybe with a strong "oh" sound, like "lole"? Pronouncing anything you see on the ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. A news columnist, Reg Henry, recently assailed what he called “the attack of the killer acronyms,” which, he said, are ...