Abbreviation

[...] In English we find also a rather different pattern of abbreviative idiom formation, not attested for many other languages: that of replacing a long word or phrasal compound by its first, or its stressed, syl­lable, whether or not that syllable has previously been a morpheme. Thus we have cab and bus from earlier cabriolet and omnibus; similarly cello from violoncello, piano from pianoforte, plane from airplane or aero­plane; and gent, or more often the plural gents, from gentleman оr gentlemen. The pattern exhibits some variation: cello is two syllables, and plane is not the most loudly stressed syllable of airplane. Some people still write ’plane and ’cello with an apostrophe as graphic indication of the abbreviation, as though there were something slightly improper about it.

In some circles abbreviations of this sort abound and new ones are freely coined. From the college scene we have many:

[sowš ] for sociology

[æ nθ ], [æ nθ row] anthropology

[é kow] economics

[howm é k] home economics

[ké m læ b] chemistry laboratory

[fí z é d] physical education

The results of this type of abbreviative idiom formation can sometimes not be distinguished from those of another type, found in many literate communities, in which a spoken abbreviation stems from a reading-off of a written abbreviation. The Cornell student word [rowtə sı j] must be of this sort, from the written abbreviation “R. O. T. C.” = Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, because no sort of ab­breviative effort on the spoken phrase would yield the shape of the slang term, [ké m læ b] might be of either origin, since the written form “Chem. Lab.” could hardly be read off otherwise. [sowš ] is certainly invented without writing, since the written abbreviation “Soc.” would yield some­thing like [sá k].

In the administration of F. D. Roosevelt and during World War II, the custom of calling governmental and military agencies and programs by abbreviative nicknames, derived (usually via writing) from their full official titles, became very popular. Two special developments should be noted. If the abbreviated written form can be read off as though it were an ordinary English word, the abbreviated nickname is often produced in this way: [æ mgà t] from “AMGOT” for “Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories”. In a number of cases, the official long title has been worked out with a conscious view to this kind of abbreviation: thus “Women’s Auxiliary Volunteer Emer­gency Service” was chosen because its initials, “WAVES”, spell an ordinary English word of apt denotation and con­notation; “United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cul­tural Organization” was originally to have a designation minus the word Scientific, and that word was added especially to make the written abbreviation “UNESCO” yield what was thought to be an appropriate (though not there­tofore meaningful) pronunciation, [juwné skow]. The second special development is akin to the first: when circumstances lead an organization to change its official name, it may stick to one which yields the same abbreviation, so that the publicity value of the latter will not be sacrificed. “Transcontinental and Western Air” changed to “Trans-World Airlines”, preserving the initials “TWA”; the “Com­mittee on Industrial Organization” became the “Congress of Industrial Organizations”, preserving the initials “CIO”.