The Elephant In The Room

Before we get any further down the line with National Blog Posting Month, let's address the elephant in the room and see if we can come to some resolutions first, hokay?

"Elephant in the room? Whatever do you mean?" you might be asking.

Well, it's the acronym for National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo. Is that the most awkward abbreviation in the history of awkward abbreviations? (It isn't ... but work with me here.)

As an acronym, it fails completely. Admit it: Pronounced, "Naa-Blow-Poe-Moe" is simply dopey. (Not that it had much choice in the matter - you kind of have play with the cards you're given ... or not play at all.)

But who said NaBloPoMo had to be associated with such bumbling inelegance in the first place? Granted, "Naa-Blo-Poe-Moe" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Why couldn't it simply be noted as an initialism when it was originally introduced? "NBPM" may not be the most artful of abbreviations but it definitely has a leg up on the clumsy acronym.

Now, "NBPM" doesn't have the finesse of, say, FBI or DVD or 4WD or USA. But "NaBloPoMo" isn't in possession of the comfortably compact radar or scuba or NASA, either. Far cry from it in fact. But in my book, "NBPM" beats trying to think about and then pronounce (or even type out) "NaBloPoMo" hands down.

Still, I'll give credit where credit is due. Regardless of its unwieldliness, there's no mistaking the identfication associated with NaBloPoMo. It's got its own personality. And it doesn't have to fight with anything else in the recognition arena. If you have to be a graceless acronym, at least meet the world on your own terms with your shoulders back and your chest on display and fly that freak flag with conviction. 

Own it. 

You might as well. No one else is going to want to own "NaBloPoMo" ... believe you me, Bob.

(Or ... you could always do what this dude did. He gave it a twist while still keeping that NaBloPoMo recognition. And it's clever to boot.)

.......... Ruprecht ( I don't think NaBloPoMo will ever STOP being awkward ... )

Stopping Alzheimer's Cold

For years I've been operating under an incorrect assumption. (And yes ... for lack of a better term, I will call it "an incorrect assumption," a proper term for what I've supposedly known it as and used it as all this time.)

I'm talking about one of my hated foes of the English language, acronyms.

More to the point I'm talking initialisms, not acronyms. But, in reality, I'm talking both. It's taken me half my life but I finally know the difference.

A friend of mine - Jim Fitzsimons - called me out on my use of "damned acronym" during an on-line discussion recently when, in fact, I should have said "damned initialism." The term in question I was referring to was "TANSTAAFL," something of which I hadn't the faintest clue. I would be duly educated on both the term and what it was, however.

Now to be fair, up until being corrected I didn't know the meaning of "initialism." Oh, I'd heard the word before but I'd never used it, either in speech or in writing ... until being called out, that is. Come to find out, I've been referring to initialisms as acronyms for a long, long time.

Having damned TANSTAAFL, I was immediately warned by Jim he was about to ram a pedantic moment down my throat. Now while I appreciated the fair warning he supplied me with, I was doubly appreciative of the educational moment there in more so. That was when I learned the difference between an acronym and an initialism, courtesy of a Penn & Teller video he provided. (Later, I topped what I'd learned with additional research on both terms along with some information gathered on "TANSTAAFL" itself.)

I'm a big believer - and advocator - of life-long learning. I try to learn something new every single day. (It's a not-so-secret bent of mine that, in so doing, I will effectively thwart any intimations of Alzheimer's disease wishing to take up residence inside my brain in my later years. Yes, I might be deluded about such prevention ... but why tempt fate? If you know me, you know I can use all the help I can get.)

So ... I *hrumphed* while coming to the conclusion I didn't know what I was talking about when it came to what I thought I knew to be an acronym and my obliviousness to initialisms, but I am all the wiser now in knowing the down and dirty on both.

Thanks, Jim. Keep foisting your pedanticalness on me. 

Someone's got to watch out for me and call me on what I think I know.

.......... Ruprecht ( 's ignorance was STOPped cold in its tracks with a little help )