You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Etymology of a vulgar word?
- Thread starter Dinosaur
- Start date
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
No, and that's the point. If we pronounce them as words, then they are acronyms. We pronounce NAFTA that way. Also NATO, radar, ANZAC, Fortran, UNESCO, SETI... there are lots of acronyms in American English. But if we pronounce them letter-by-letter, then they are just abbreviations. IBM, CIA, FBI, USA, G.I., EU, IRS. But people have been calling those "acronyms" for so long that the word has lost its precision.Hmmmm... so, when there are abbreviations, you all speak letter by letter in English? UNO, NAFTA etc? Down here they all become words, mainly if we have consonat-vowel-consonant types.
I have no idea what UNO is. Is that what you call the United Nations? We call it the U.N. and it's not an acronym.
I hear some people pronouncing URL as a word.
Last edited:
I have no idea what UNO is. Is that what you call the United Nations? We call it the U.N. and it's not an acronym.
Yes. Don't you consider the word "Organization" after United Nations?
cheers
Back to the main topic of this thread.
I am sure I read somewhere that those responible for the Oxford English Dictionary claim that the etymology was lost in a 150-200 year period when the word did not appear in any printed literature. I ssuppose that previous occurrences did not give a clue to the etymology.
I always liked a suggested etymology which my father cliamed to have heard or read somwhere. There is a very old method of planting certain types of seeds using a pointed tool held in the hand. The tool is held in one hand and used to make a hole. Seeds are dropped into the hole using the other hand. Supposedly, this method was referred to as f**king.
I am sure I read somewhere that those responible for the Oxford English Dictionary claim that the etymology was lost in a 150-200 year period when the word did not appear in any printed literature. I ssuppose that previous occurrences did not give a clue to the etymology.
I always liked a suggested etymology which my father cliamed to have heard or read somwhere. There is a very old method of planting certain types of seeds using a pointed tool held in the hand. The tool is held in one hand and used to make a hole. Seeds are dropped into the hole using the other hand. Supposedly, this method was referred to as f**king.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
No. Never heard of it in America. It's just "the United Nations" or more usually "the U.N."Yes. Don't you consider the word "Organization" after United Nations?