[Taxacom] Family acronyms are not acronyms but are abbreviations.

[Mario Blanco]

Hmm, so many (most?) herbarium "acronyms" are not really acronyms 
either. Probably the same for many zoological museum "acronyms". (For 
those unfamiliar with these terms, I am talking about the standard 
abbreviations used to designate institutions).

Airports use the term "code" instead of "acronym", which is probably as 
good as "abbreviation". However, I doubt that botanists will start using 
the term "herbarium abbreviation" or "herbarium code". The term 
"herbarium acronym" is too familiar already, at least among plant 
taxonomists.

M.

Richard Jensen wrote:
> Neil,
>
> Thanks for this info.
>
> I started to write a note similar to John Bruner's, but then saw his.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dick J
>
> Richard Jensen, Professor
> Department of Biology
> Saint Mary’s College
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
> Tel: 574-284-4674
>
>
>
> John Clay Bruner wrote:
>   
>> Quoting "Neil Snow" <neil.snow at bishopmuseum.org>:
>>   
>>     
>>> With apologies; try this URL instead of the previous one (thanks to
>>> Colorado Native Plant Society for hosting it):
>>> http://www.conps.org/pdf/Plant%20Keys/ACROS.pdf
>>> NS
>>> Neil Snow, Ph.D.
>>> Botanist
>>> Herbarium Pacificum (BISH)
>>> Bishop Museum
>>> 1525 Bernice Street
>>> Honolulu, Hawai'i, 96817, U.S.A.
>>> phone: (808) 847-8226
>>> fax: (808) 847-8252
>>>     
>>>       
>> ************************
>>
>> "ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PLANT FAMILIES WITH ASSOCIATED ACRONYMS (2009)"
>>
>> They are not ACRONYMS, but they are abbreviations. An acronym is a  
>> word formed by the first letter or several letters of a string of  
>> words.   RADAR and SCUBA are acronyms. Your abbreviations are not all  
>> acronyms. For example, Balanitaceae BLT, Balanopaceae BLN,  
>> Balanophoraceae BNP, Balsaminaceae BLS, are not acronyms.  They are  
>> not words. They do not have both vowels and consonants.
>>
>>
>>          John
>> ******************************************************
>> * Mr. John C. Bruner                                 *
>> * Department of Biological Sciences                  *
>> * University of Alberta                              *
>> * Edmonton, Alberta  _______/////____/~~)______/==== *
>> * T6G 2E9  CANADA   /_ @  > />...w...w.........===== *
>> * (780) 492-5408    \ ______________,__________===== *
>> * FAX: (780) 492-9234        \>       \>       \==== *
>> * VIRTUAL FAX: (780) 492-2216                        *
>> * EMAIL: jbruner at ualberta.ca                         *
>> * HOME PAGE:http://www.ualberta.ca/~jbruner/         *
>> ******************************************************
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Taxacom Mailing List
>> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>>
>> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of these methods:
>>
>> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>>
>> Or (2) a Google search specified as:  site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>>   
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>
> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of these methods:
>
> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Or (2) a Google search specified as:  site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>
>