Pet Peeve: Acronym Misuse
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Explanation: It just drives me batty when people misuse acronyms. This happens all the time at work, but I don't want to post anything internal on the internet, so I'll just complain about "ATM machines" instead. An acronym should be able to be expanded into a string of words and still make sense in the context in which it was used. For example, "I got money out of the ATM machine" would expand to "I got money out of the automated teller machine machine." People do this all the time. You don't say "I'm from the USA America." You don't say "I'm making a PB&J jelly sandwich." Why would you say "ATM machine?" Jeez. Think before you speak, people!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go check out this TV vision show on the CNN network about how a Navy SEAL land went MIA action in the USSR republics because his SCUBA apparatus malfunctioned during a SAR rescue mission.
3 comments:
Whenever I go to the ATM machine, it makes me type in my PIN number before I can get the cash money. So annoying...
You know what drives me crazy> When people misuse the WORD acronym like you did. ATM is not an acronym, it is an initialism.
Mitchell is correct. An acronym is an abbreviation that can be prnounced as a word (such as scuba and SAR) whereas an initialism is an acronym that can NOT be promounced as a word (such as ATM and USA)
However, I still agree with the 'heart' of your post. :)
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