count me among the linguists that do not recognize the sharp distinction. i will let them know about your dissent.
Ok, so some lazy people who don't really know any better want to call everything acronyms. They're probably the same ones who think it's acceptable to say "irregardless" or end sentences in prepositions.
i agree that precision in language is important. but i also note that many things you think are proper were wildly improper at one point and language evolved. thats the way wods work, they are not static. some of the uses we would describe as perfect strunk and white beauties would at one time been considered total abominations used by scoundrels. i currently consider irregardless to be horrible but i am perfectly ok with ending sentences with prepositions. most all grammarians agree with me on that one. also, the people you describe as "lazy" are also described as "linguists".
While definitions of select words have been known to evolve with the vernacular of certain cultures, there is also a staggering movement by many people to alter standard practices to fit their own convenience or laziness. I consider "acronym" to be the latter.
i will buy the general point, but i disagree that this is an example of the point. it is arbitrary to say that nasa is an acronym while ibm isnt, merely based on the lack of vowels in ibm making it not as pronounceable to idiots who would enjoy calling it "ibbim". its a proper name, and it is pronounced eyebee-em regardless of whether you classify the spelling as proper enough to describe an acronym.
That's not an arbitrary difference, though. It's actually rather significant. Acronyms like "SCUBA" and "RADAR" are used very casually as actual words because they can be pronounced as such. IBM cannot, and must therefore suffer eternally as a lowly abbreviation. If you're clinging to the "proper" part of it, then Mr. Wasteful Government Spending didn't really use any acronyms above; he just lazily abbreviated a bunch of words/names.
it is arbitrary, because ibm clearly is pronounced eye-bee-em. i know the spelling doesnt look like that, but that doesnt matter. favre isnt pronounced like it is spelled either, doesnt mean its not a word. but true enough, the abbreviations above were barely acronyms, because no one would actually call ron paul "are-pee". i have heard the mainsteam media actually called the em ess em though.
