plural of acronym ending in S?
WESLEY ANTHONY
What is the correct way to do this? The acronym I want to use is
MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet). I have seen MSDSes, MSDSs, MSDS's
and even MSDS Sheets. I believe that the last is used by the same
folks who say "CD Disks" and "35 pounds PSI". But I digress.
So just what is the net.approved way to make a plural of an
acronym ending in S?
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michael j yalkut
ANTHONY ) says:
>and even MSDS Sheets. I believe that the last is used by the same
>folks who say "CD Disks" and "35 pounds PSI". But I digress.
A personal favorite is the "SALT II Treaty."
michael j yalkut
Arul A. Menezes
>michael j yalkut
I always liked the Comp. Architecture presentations where they talk
about the original Vax as being a 1 MIP machine.....
Richard Webber
You aren't really using an ACRONYM here...it's just a four-letter
abbreviation. An acronym is a *word* made up of the first letter
of each of its component words, e.g., RADAR or SNAFU. In any
event, after many years of pondering this and discussing it with
people *in the know*, I feel the correct form is simply a lower
case "s" with no apostrophe.
Larry Setlow
You aren't really using an ACRONYM here...it's just a four-letter
abbreviation. An acronym is a *word* made up of the first letter
of each of its component words, e.g., RADAR or SNAFU.
This brings up an interesting (to me) point: why isn't MSDS a word? I
contend (partly because it annoys those around me, partly because I
haven't heard a persuasive argument against it) that MSDS is a word
that happens to be pronounced (roughly) /em ess dee ess/.
I believe there are some gray areas, too (words that are pronounced
partly as the names of their letters, and partly as the sounds of
their letters), but I can't think of any at the moment.
George Battrick
"
"I believe there are some gray areas, too (words that are pronounced
"partly as the names of their letters, and partly as the sounds of
"their letters), but I can't think of any at the moment.
Lots of four-letter acronyms and/or abbreviations in computer-ese are
pronounced with the name of the first letter and the sound of the
other three. For starters: Unix, IGES, PDES, RDOS (?) ...
--
George Battrick Crosfield Electronics Ltd Hemel Hempstead HP2 7RH U.K.
g...@cel.uucp -or- g...@crosfield.co.uk -or- ...!{mcsun,ukc,uunet}!cel!gwb
#include <disclaimer.std> "Remember, George: this is no time to go wobbly!"
Andrew Dunstan
In article <10...@sun103.crosfield.co.uk>, g...@crosfield.co.uk (George
Battrick) writes:
|>
|> Lots of four-letter acronyms and/or abbreviations in computer-ese are
|> pronounced with the name of the first letter and the sound of the
|> other three. For starters: Unix, IGES, PDES, RDOS (?) ...
^^^^
Unix is NOT an acronym. Nor it is an abbreviation. It is a pun. There
used to be an operating system called MULTICS, which is a (semi-)acronym,
standing for MULTIplexed Information and Computing Service. Brian Kernighan
jokingly called Ken Thompson's cut-down version of this UNICS, which was
subsequently changed to Unix.
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Ash Nallawalla
awe...@vela.acs.oakland.edu (WESLEY ANTHONY ) writes:
>MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet). I have seen MSDSes, MSDSs, MSDS's
>and even MSDS Sheets. I believe that the last is used by the same
I'd use MSDSs in text but if forced to use all-caps for some reason I'd
use MSDS'S.
>folks who say "CD Disks" and "35 pounds PSI". But I digress.
To digress slightly, I believe the spelling is Compact Disc because
(I'm guessing) the inventor patented it as such. ^
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Donald C Hubin
>
>Lots of four-letter acronyms and/or abbreviations in computer-ese are
>pronounced with the name of the first letter and the sound of the
>other three. For starters: Unix, IGES, PDES, RDOS (?) ...
>
I'm no Unix historian, but I understood that 'Unix' was neither an
acronym nor an abbreviation. Also, it seems no more plausible to
suggest that we are pronouncing the first letter of 'Unix' and the
sound of the other three than it does to suggest this of 'united' or
'unilateral'. The long 'u' sound is both the name of the letter and a
sound it can make.
--
Donald C. Hubin | Depart. of Philosophy, The Ohio State University
| Columbus, OH 43210 USA (614)292-7914
-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------
hub...@osu.edu | or hu...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Mary Shafer OFDD
when you're using initials--my editor says that it's a small "s" and
no apostrophe.
That is, one LLRV (Lunar Landing Research Vehicle), two LLRVs.
Since NASA is the acronym for "Needs Another Set of Acronyms" this
is probably a reliable guideline.
RAMontante
| Lots of four-letter acronyms and/or abbreviations in computer-ese are
| pronounced with the name of the first letter and the sound of the
| other three. For starters: Unix, IGES, PDES, RDOS (?) ...
I'm not convinced that "Unix" is an examplar of your point as opposed to
a mere coincidence --- consider words such as "utility" or "union".
On the other hand, I pronounce a different operating system's name as
"em-ess-doss" (MS-DOS). There is also "EMACS"....
Larry Setlow
In article <PJT.91Ju...@dharma.cpac.washington.edu> Larry Setlow <p...@cpac.washington.edu> writes:
"
"I believe there are some gray areas, too (words that are pronounced
"partly as the names of their letters, and partly as the sounds of
"their letters), but I can't think of any at the moment.
Of course, right after I posted that, I remembered MS-DOS (as did
everyone else, apparently) and JTIDS. So, what's the consensus? Is
JTIDS an acronym? What about JSTPS? If only one, why?
And what about FAQ? Does its acronymity depend on pronunciation? I
don't find that reasonable.
(my posistion again, for those who care, is that they're all words,
therefore all acronyms, regardless of whether one says /fak/ or
/eff-a-cue/ (and how _does_ one denote a long a in that half-assed
phonetic notation?))
WESLEY ANTHONY
:To return to the original question of how do you write the plural
:when you're using initials--my editor says that it's a small "s" and
:no apostrophe.
:That is, one LLRV (Lunar Landing Research Vehicle), two LLRVs.
Thanks. Everyone seems to be in agreement on this. But wouldn't it be two
WESLEY ANTHONY
>Unix is NOT an acronym. Nor it is an abbreviation. It is a pun. There
>used to be an operating system called MULTICS, which is a (semi-)acronym,
>standing for MULTIplexed Information and Computing Service.
multics =
Many
Useful
Little
Tricks
In
Computer
Software
or
Many
Uselessly
Large
Tables
In
Core
Simutaneously
etc. many others
WESLEY ANTHONY
> There
>used to be an operating system called MULTICS,. . .
^^^^^^^^^^
I missed that one. There still is. This site still has one, although they
don't let the students on it any more. Also, Ford still runs three multics
systems. Multics is alive but not very well.
Dian De Sha
I nominate /eff-ay-cue/
Jane Philcox
>I believe there are some gray areas, too (words that are pronounced
>partly as the names of their letters, and partly as the sounds of
>their letters), but I can't think of any at the moment.
email
INXS
Regards, Jane
--
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
Patrick Dempster
>
> Lots of four-letter acronyms and/or abbreviations in computer-ese are
> pronounced with the name of the first letter and the sound of the
> other three. For starters: Unix, IGES, PDES, RDOS (?) ...
>
> g...@cel.uucp -or- g...@crosfield.co.uk -or- ...!{mcsun,ukc,uunet}!cel!gwb
> #include <disclaimer.std> "Remember, George: this is no time to go wobbly!"
Just to set the record straight I would like to point out three
facts. Yes UNIX is a four letter word. It is most definitely NOT an acronym.
UNIX is also not an abbreviation. Personally, I think it is a
rather fine word suggesting deference to multics. And thats my two
cents worth.
Patric Dempster
AT&T Canada
Usual disclaimers.
de...@twg.com
>awe...@vela.acs.oakland.edu (WESLEY ANTHONY ) writes:
>
>I'd use MSDSs in text but if forced to use all-caps for some reason I'd
I think the reason for this (i.e. the apostrophe) is to make a distinction
that the 'S' is not a part of the preceding string.
>>folks who say "CD Disks" and "35 pounds PSI". But I digress.
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^
Though not to the same degree, what about 'baud rate'?
'Baud' itself is a rate so there is no need to add 'rate' after it.
Not only that, since it is coined in honor of the Frenchman(?) called
Baudot (sp?), the first letter should be capitalized. I have seen manuals
from reputed computer companies mentioning it as 'baud rate,' which is
wrong on the two counts mentioned above.
EOE.
Regards,
Deven
--
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