Their, there, they're

Acronyms and initialisms

Word of the Day #1

ac·ro·nym / ˈakrəˌnim / noun = an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word, like NASA or NATO.

Word of the Day #2

in·i·tial·ism / iˈniSHəˌlizəm / noun = an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately, like FBI.

Hybrids

• LOL is both an acronym and an initialism, a hybrid category.  Sometimes it's a pronounced acronym (as in "LOLcats"), and sometimes it's an initialism ("ell-oh-ell").
• FAQ is another hybrid.  It's usually pronounced as an initialism ("ef-ay-cue") , but may also be pronounced as an acronym ("fack").

Which is which, below?

• ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act
• AKA = also known as
• ASAP = as soon as possible
• ATM = automated teller machine
• BYOB = bring your own bottle
• CIA = Central Intelligence Agency
• CYA = see you ("c" ya), like waving "bye"
• DIY = do it yourself
• DOE = Department of Energy
• DOT = department of transportation
• EPA = Environmental Protection Agency
• ETA = estimated time of arrival
• FAQ = frequently asked questions
• FBI = Federal Bureau of Investigation
• FYI = for your information
• IDK = I don't know
• LASER = light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
• LOL = laugh out loud
• NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• OMG = oh my god (oh my goodness; oh my gosh)
• PPE = personal protective equipment
• TMI = too much information
• UMSL = University of Missouri-St. Louis
• VIP = very important person

Cross-posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

Half-wit

Half-wit (noun) = a foolish person.

I'm a word person.  When I was ten, I was able to spend a few weeks in Louisville, Kentucky, with my dad's sister and her family.  As a ten-year-old, I thought I was "witty" when I told my folks I was now a "half-Witt."  Yes, I knew the meaning of the word and how to spell it.  What I haven't mentioned yet is that their family name was Witt.  I loved it!  I felt half-Setliffe and half-Witt.  Oh, I was so funny.

By the way, is it true you can't make a wit out of two half-wits?

Posted originally on Bonnie's Books as Half Witt, with no hyphen.

Jowl

A woman commented on Facebook that her family always ate "black eyed peas, hog Joel, and greens" on New Year's Day.  "Joel"?  I'm pretty sure she meant JOWL, which is "the cheek of a pig used as meat."  This photo shows "sliced jowl bacon" from Wikipedia's article on pork jowl.

The other definition of jowl is "the lower part of a person's or animal's cheek, especially when it is fleshy or drooping."  This photo found online could be Joel's jowls, except Hitchcock's parents named him Alfred.

Cross-posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

See Spot run

Can you believe a three-letter word has at least 645 meanings?  It's the word "run."  I remember learning to read that word in the first grade in my Dick and Jane reader.  "See Spot run" has become a catch phrase.

And then there's "Run, Forrest, run!"  (Click to watch the video of Forrest Gump's long, long run, which lasted 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours, he says.)

That's only ONE kind of running.  Editors of the Oxford English Dictionary say "run" is the most complicated word in the English language.  Think of these other uses of the word:  run up a large debt, run a company, run to the store (in your car, not on foot), run out of mayonnaise, the long run of a Broadway musical, run your children to school, a trial run, and a run on banks in the 1930s.  Water can run over the brim of a cup, and waiting to be seated at a good restaurant may run half an hour or more.  And now I've run out of pithy examples, except maybe a running joke, which differs from a running total.

Let me leave you with a running pun.  I'm punny like that.  Do notice, however, the name has two Rs in it.

Posted originally on Bonnie's Books.

Peek or pique

I read "peeked my interest" and I thought "piqued."  So here I am this evening comparing two sound-alike words:  peek and pique.  Think about peek-a-boo, the game we play with babies ... or kittens.

• The word "peek" ... pronounced /pēk/ ... is a verb, and it means looking furtively, as in:  "The baby (or the kitty) peeks from behind hands or paws."

• The word "pique" ... pronounced /pēk/ ... is also a verb, but it means to arouse my interest or curiosity, as in:  "That book has piqued my interest."

What else can I say?  I was piqued by the blogger's misunderstanding of peeked.  Or at least, her misunderstanding of how to spell the word that correctly conveyed what she meant to say.

 Also posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

Thesaurus

Sitting around the table with an ever-changing group of friends at lunchtime, we got to talking about words.  Melvin said he wants to revise his book of poems, changing some of the wording.  I had gone straight into the Circle @ Crown Cafe when I got off the van from our trip to the book sale at the Jewish Community Center, so I had my huge bag of books on the floor beside me and whipped out my newly-acquired Merriam-Webster Thesaurus.  I offered it to Melvin, but he says he already has two of them.  But he did make "thesaurus" his word of the day.

thesaurus = a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms, such as the online Thesaurus.com

A thesaurus helps us pinpoint the precise meaning we want to convey.  It also usually gives sample sentences to show how words are used in context.  Don't you love the thesaurus rex illustrating happiness?

Posted originally on my Bonnie's Books blog.