Comments on: Fading language distinctions http://walt.lishost.org/2005/04/fading-language-distinctions/ The library voice of the radical middle. Wed, 22 May 2013 05:34:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: jessamyn http://walt.lishost.org/2005/04/fading-language-distinctions/comment-page-1/#comment-45 jessamyn Fri, 08 Apr 2005 01:05:34 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=7#comment-45 Fun and only somewhat useful piece of trivia: if you want to provide your readers a helpful guide for what some of the acronynms OR initialisms, you can use the acronym tag in your HTML. So, when you use a term like ALA, you can put tags around it thusly <acronym title=”american library association”>ALA</a> which will get you ALA. People see the word formatted a little differently, and they can mouseover and see what the acronym or initialism stands for. Helpful for accessibility and sometimes just clarity. [now let’s see if the comment box renders it right, second time's the charm]

]]> By: Brian http://walt.lishost.org/2005/04/fading-language-distinctions/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Brian Wed, 06 Apr 2005 00:26:14 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=7#comment-36 I’ve heard “LRC” pronounced as “lurk” quite a few times, so maybe that one’s an acronym after all.

]]> By: walt http://walt.lishost.org/2005/04/fading-language-distinctions/comment-page-1/#comment-31 walt Mon, 04 Apr 2005 20:47:17 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=7#comment-31 True–but not a distinction between the first trio and the second trio. Both sets mix true names and “stand in place” names. NISO in the first set and ALA in the second are abbreviations for the proper current names of the entities.

But it’s an interesting comment. I always wondered what drove copyeditors crazy. (Cheap shot: Actually, I’ve appreciated most of the copyeditors I’ve worked with.)

]]> By: T. Scott http://walt.lishost.org/2005/04/fading-language-distinctions/comment-page-1/#comment-30 T. Scott Mon, 04 Apr 2005 20:29:26 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=7#comment-30 There’s another way of parsing this set — those that stand in place of the actual name of the organization and those that ARE the name. EBSCO, for example, although it is derived from “Elton B. Stephens’ Company” is the official name of the company. ALA, however, stands for the American Library Association. OCLC stood for two previous names, but no longer — now it is the corporate name. SLA (not one of the ones on your list) no longer stands for Special Libraries Association but is the name of the association. This is the sort of thing that drives copyeditors crazy as they try to figure out when they are supposed to include the actual name that the initialism stands for and when the initialism (whether or not it is an acronym) is the name itself.

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