Many
abbreviations are made up from the initial letters of the most
important words in a phrase, for example: U.F.O. is
“unidentified flying object”.
Here is a list of the most commonly used
abbreviations.
C.O.D ……………………cash on delivery
I.Q……………………….intelligence quotient
M.P………………………military police
M.D………………………medical doctor
R.N……………………….registered nurse
P.R……………………….public relations
K.P……………………….kitchen patrol
V.P……………………….Vice President
V.I.P……………………...Very Important Person
Abbreviation like these are normally pronounced
with the main stress on the last letter. Ex. U.S.A P.R.
M.D. I.Q.
Some abbreviations made from initial letters are
pronounced like words. Examples:
- North
Atlantic Treaty Organization is usually known as NATO.
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization is called UNESCO.
It would be an interesting project for the
students to look up other abbreviations. Since they use
internet and their cell phones they will surely find
abbreviations that they use very often to communicate in a quick
and easy way.
Ex. LOL……………………… laughing out
loud
BRB………………………..be right back.
NP…………………………no Problem
I must say that I always enjoyed using the famous
TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday!).
Let’s not forget the most famous abbreviation of
all time, O.K. There are numerous explanations for
the origin of O.K., but I think this one is the most logical.
The 7th President of the United State, Andrew
Jackson, made a rather critical error in spelling. On documents
that he viewed he wrote O.K. to mean “all correct”, only he
thought the spelling was as it sounds, “Oll Korrect”
The abbreviation really “caught on” during the
1840 re-election of Martin Van Buren . He had the nickname of
Old Kinderhook and O.K. clubs came up with the slogan “OK is
O.K.” Now O.K. is used worldwide and we probably would
have difficulty if we wanted to eliminate it from our
vocabulary!
A Nice Thought
“It’s a poor mind that can’t think of at
least two ways of spelling a word.”
Andrew Jackson (obviously!!)