Talk:Acronymization

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[edit] Backronym Merger

The process described in this article is simply a specific case of a backronym, and I don't believe it merits its own article. --/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 20:55, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I would argue that the term Acronymization is a new one that is appearing in Business circles - marketing departments and corporate branding companies - and as such represents a marketing technique and not a part of speech.

The examples cited in the article are not backronyms, so it wouldn't make sense to fold it into the backronym article.

Examples of acronymization that we're familiar with:

Kentucky Fried Chicken needed to get the Fried and the Chicken out of its name so it could start selling salads and competing with McDonalds. They are using Acronymization to change their name to KFC. Archer Daniels Midland became ADM so it didn't sound like a trio of Presbyterians. Union Bank of Switzerland, the second largest bank in Europe, is now rebranding itself as UBS to conquer the US market. The words Union and Switzerland limit our perception of what the bank does, while UBS becomes its own word and is an empty vessel waiting to be filled with meaning, through advertising.

Backronyms of KFC, ADM and UBS would be
KFC= Killing Fats and Cholesterol
ADM= Agriculture, Drugs, and Munitions
UBS= Undead Blood Suckers

Savagela (talk) 19:22, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

• Against Merger

I think these articles should not be merged. This is an example of the dynamic nature of language - of how a word has come into use to describe a common modern practice. It would be like merging "blog" into "journal" simply because blog is the newer term, while ignoring the very unique properties of the new thing which it describes. --Bodybagger (talk) 04:02, 12 June 2008 (UTC)