State abbreviations[]
These aren't technically acronyms, should the page title/parameters be changed? And where did "WVa" come from for West Virginia? West Virginia's abbreviation is WV. Great Mara (talk) 22:08, 13 October 2022 (UTC)
- West_Virginia_trucker_cap uses the WVa abbreviation. Hm, maybe we should move it to Acronyms and abbreviations in Fallout? Тагазиэль 07:22, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
Even if Initialism isn't as well known a term, it's probably more accurate for most of these cases. To be an acronym, it technically needs to spell a word, while most of these are just initials. Aiden4017 (talk) 07:33, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
- "Initialism" is more a niche term, not as widely adopted, well-known, or accepted as "acronym." I don't think it would serve the reader to use it, and it's an informal subvariety of "acronym." Hell, if you try to find "initialism" on Wikipedia, it redirects you to "acronym" anyway. Additionally, 2-letter state abbreviations are known as abbreviations rather than acronyms.
- intrepid359
10/14/22 9:08am CT
- I was talking about the page in general. FBI, BADTFL, NAR, etc are all initialisms. Aiden4017 (talk) 02:12, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
- It's a less common word, championed by a small but vocal group, but it's more common to use "acronym." From Merriam-Webster: "Some people feel strongly that acronym should only be used for terms like NATO, which is pronounced as a single word, and that initialism should be used if the individual letters are all pronounced distinctly, as with FBI. Our research shows that acronym is commonly used to refer to both types of abbreviations." Our policies say we should serve the reader above our own preferences, and, in my opinion, using the most relatable, common wording best accomplishes that mandate.
- intrepid35910/14/22 11:25pm CT
- I was talking about the page in general. FBI, BADTFL, NAR, etc are all initialisms. Aiden4017 (talk) 02:12, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
Not sure about initialisms, but this page declares its scope as being acronyms, but not all abbreviations are acronyms. The page now has both abbreviations and acronyms being listed instead of just acronyms. Great Mara (talk) 12:06, 15 October 2022 (UTC)