this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2024
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As a kid, I was in the room at one point while my mom was watching some TV show, maybe law and order or something similar. I heard somebody letting somebody else know (verbally) the details of some victim and described the cause of injury or death or whatever as "GSW". I asked my mom what GSW meant. She said "gun shot wound". I said that that couldn't possibly be right, and she was curious why. I said because "gun shot wound" is 3 syllables and "GSW" is 5; it's literally quicker to say the full thing.
So yeah, GSW is fucking stupid when said aloud, and even me as a dumbass child knew that.
GSW isn't an acronym as far as I'm concerned. It's an initialism. But it sure is stupid, I will say. Much faster to say it the "long" way.
That's an unfortunate, incorrect phrasing. π
It's a very deliberate phrasing, since not everyone agrees that initialisms are not acronyms.
Personally I think that "ackhually that's an initialism not an acronym π€" is exactly the kind of ultimately irrelevant distinction that internet know-it-alls love to know and point out. I know because I used to be like that too when I was younger.
But often those distinctions are not universally acknowledged or useful in all contexts. Like how strawberries are not scientifically berries, but we still often group them as berries.
Nitpicking word definitions is pointless when the distinction being pointed out is not relevant for the conversation.
I'm not saying I'm the tone of "aaackshually".
I personally love to learn these types of things, so in case someone learns something they'd like to learn, I'm here for it. If people get butthurt or annoyed about it because "I've been using it wrong and that makes it right..." π€·ββοΈ I dunno.