"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
Already looked up "word" - the definitions were not useful to the
discussion.

Not useful? Your dictionary uses the word "word" to define "acronym", and
yet you did not find the definition of "word" in that same dictionary to be
helpful in understanding the actual meaning of the word "acronym"? Or did
you mean by "not useful" simply that your dictionary's definition of "word"
didn't help support your incorrect understanding of "acronym"?

"initalism" isn't in my dictionary.

I don't think "initalism" is a word. As far as "initialism" goes, here's
one dictionary's definition for you:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=initialism

Hope that helps. You might want to think about getting a new dictionary.

Pete