The use of acronyms and initialisms in modern English

A Linguistics blog post by Oliver Bradford

      You will probably have noticed the increased use of acronyms and initialisms in the English language recently. In case you haven't an acronym is a word that is made of the initials of another set of words. Some extremely common and widespread examples are UK (United Kingdom) or USA (United States of America).  The truth is nearly all English acronyms around today have been coined since the beginning of the twentieth century (although RIP- rest in peace- is an English initialism that has been around for hundreds of years).

      I was surprised to read that there were so many different kinds of acronyms. For example there are letter acronyms (pronounceable words such as NATO), Syllabic acronyms (taking the first syllables from a group of words) like ASDA- Associated Dairies, and also Hybrids of both of these such as CoSIRA (council for small industries in rural areas). There are also Mnemonic Aids, where the acronym is a homonym of an existing word, to fix it in a person's minds, such as SALT (Strategic arms limitation talks). A slightly different version is a Backronym- where a set of word's initials are chosen specifically in order for it to match a chosen existing word. This includes Chav (council house and violent- among others).   

      But why have acronyms become so popular? David Crystal's book 'The Cambridge encyclopaedia of language second edition' credits the spread of acronym usage to: "computer usage, the naming of scientific and technical devices and activities, the often flamboyant labelling of commercial products and the influence of the Japanese (who favour the usage". Social networking has also become a major factor in it spread as people coin acronyms for commonly used phrases, for example tbh (to be honest) and wtf (what the fuck).  Some acronyms become so widely used that people often do not register it as an acronym- for example laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), radar (Radio Detection And Ranging) and scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus). Tom MacArthur's book 'The Oxford companion to the English Language' suggests it is because "acronyms are pronounceable and easy to create … They make convenient short hand labels, mnemonic aids and activists slogans.

      But why are some making the leap into spoken language? Scott Kiesling (PhD) , a socio-linguist and professor at the University of Pittsburgh has been working to answer that exact question. One theory he proposes is that the acronyms actually express something different than the words that form them. "For example: "You wouldn't say, 'OMG, that person just jumped off a cliff,'" he explains. "But you'd say, 'OMG, do you see those red pants that person is wearing?'". This would explain why acronyms and initialisms are becoming an important part of the English Language, not only today, but also in the future.