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I encountered a new (to me) word. Picorna, pronounced /pick-CORN-uh/. It is exclusively scientific, but it caught my attention. It comes from the prefix pico, meaning very small; 10 raised to the -12 power and the acronym RNA. What I love about it is that the acronym has been completely assimilated into this new word, so that it almost disappears. Not only does it lose its capital letters, but it gets divided by a syallable boundary.
Instances:
Stanford
Smiling Virus
Family history
Glenn,
That is neat evolution of an acronym and also new to me.
Once upon a time, I saw a letter about the proposed development of a gamma ray laser. The author rejected the bovine sounding "GRASER" and suggested instead, "GRAYL" (Gamma RAY Laser). Its first letter being an acronym, the middle three being a complete word, and the last letter being the acronym of an acronym. It does not appear to have caught on but did combine words and acronyms up to two layers deep.
The author also quipped that those scientists trying to build one could say that they were searching for a grayl. He did not know if that would help their efforts to get funding.
Emmett
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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