#40330
08/31/2001 8:54 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
Most terms from the stock market are acronyms (e.g. FTSE), or would-be acronyms like NASDAQ, or DAX .. fair enough. So where does the index for the 225 biggest companies in Japan, the Nikkei, get its name from? And what about Hong-Kong's Hang-Seng?
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#40331
08/31/2001 1:05 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Quick perusal of http://www.nikkei.co.jp/ suggests that it means (literally) sun circle of longitude. A possible freer translation might be circle of Japanese (literally, sun origin, the first character in Nihon is the character for sun) influence. Other, more educated opinions are welcome. I found it interesting that you refer to FTSE, which many purists would not consider an acronym due to its unpronounceability, as an acronym but refer to the easily pronounceable NASDQ and DAQ as would-be acronyms.
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#40332
08/31/2001 2:02 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
FTSE = footsy
-ron (fetish) o.
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#40333
09/01/2001 3:29 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Yes, that's where they play footsie with your money.
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#40334
09/01/2001 1:16 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> [You] refer to NASDQ and DAQ as would-be acronyms.
Well, I questioned DAX as an acronym because the letters D.A.X are not the first letters of the name it stands for (Deutsche Aktien Index) and FTSE at least fulfils that criterion - even if it does not *in theory* create a 'word'. The X in DAX is avoidable too since D.A.I. could be pronounced.
SCSI is another example of an acronym which theoretically cannot be pronounced, but is (either 'Scasi' or 'Scassi')
My favourites nowadays are (false) acronyms of multiple acronyms side by side layered into this beautiful indecipherable blend of upper- and lowercase letters.
Another thing I've noticed of late is that names like 'LeAnn' are becoming quite popular - it must be because it looks French I guess - If LeAnn did exist in French, then it would surely be L'Ann and would therefore not produce the desired pronunciation.
In the meantime I found out that Hang-Seng means something like 'ever-growing' - far more straight-forward than that Nikkei sun circle story. All the economics terms are so cryptic! For example what is DAQ, Faldage ;-)
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#40335
09/01/2001 1:46 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
If LeAnn did exist in French, then it would surely be L'AnnSince "Le" is masculine, this Ann must suffer from the XXY chromosome disorder. It is an inappropriate contraction of the original compound name, Lee-Ann, but then "Lee" is gender ambiguous also... 
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#40336
09/03/2001 8:19 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
And in French Anne can be used in male names: Cardinal Richelieu or some other cardinal, I think?
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#40337
09/04/2001 10:28 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
One of my pet peeves is the ludicrous construction of unwieldy words so that they will create an acronym. This occurs frequently in the world of medicine, especially in research that is funded by drug companies, who want the research trial to have a catchy name. A hypothetical example might be "Combined Association of Neurological Clinicians Exploring Recombinantion." [CANCER] Do any other fields perform this sort of verbal gymnastics to create acronyms?
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#40338
09/04/2001 11:47 AM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
addict
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addict
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609 |
Do any other fields perform this sort of verbal gymnastics to create acronyms?
I think most areas now indulge in this game. I see little harm in it and sometimes the resulting acronym can raise a smile. One area where it appears to be rife is in naming protest or awareness groups (ASH = Action on Smoking and Health; NOMA'AM = National Organisation of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood)
Certainly the IT industry and large organisations like IBM can provide many examples.
Rod
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#40339
09/04/2001 12:25 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
DAQ was just a screwup, a misremembering of DAX. NASDQ was pure fumblefingers.
SCSI, BTW, is typically, at least by USns, pronounced scuzzy.
And does 'A word formed from the initial letters of a name' eliminate radar as an acronym? (RAdio Detection And Ranging) Or does the use of an initial letter grouping from a word count?
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#40340
09/04/2001 8:56 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
Do any other fields perform this sort of verbal gymnastics to create acronyms?
How 'bout schools? The mascot for the school of which I am now an alumnus is the Tigers, and the district likes to use that for everything they can. A reading program in the primary school is called Teachers Involved in Getting Eager Readers Started (TIGERS).
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