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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2013-12-09 14:43, Jo wrote :<br>
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<div>Hi,<br>
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While adding bus stops, I'm inclined to expand the
abbreviations. This usually makes sense for<br>
O.L.V (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw)<br>
St. -> Sint- or straat<br>
H. -> Heilig<br>
...<br>
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Where I'd really prefer not to expand:<br>
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OCMW / CPAS<br>
P&R<br>
BLOSO</div>
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I think one must distinguish an <b>acronym</b>, which is a <b>proper
noun</b> (normally preceded by "the") and is the <b>established</b>
name of a single thing, from one or several abbreviated <b>common
noun(s) </b>(normally preceded by 'a') which is/are the name(s)
of a category of many things.<br>
The acronym is normally written without dots, the abbreviation with
dots, so, if that rule is respected, our rule would come down to:
don't use dots.<br>
<b>The</b> USA acronym is single and well known by everybody and
best remains as such; <b>a</b> saint or <b>a</b> street are many
(albeit saint Nicolas is single (they say)) and should be fully
spelled. <br>
But things are not always clearly cut in this world: <b>a</b>
C.H.U. is a Centre Hospitalier Universitaire but to the persons
living near one, it's <b>the</b> (their) C.H.U. or CHU. Also,
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw is made of common words, but, if the rule is like
in French, the "-" make it something different and it straddles the
two rules to me.<br>
Note the difference in French between the person "saint Nicolas",
the municipality "Saint-Nicolas" and the feast "la Saint-Nicolas"
(not his wife if he is single (they say)).<br>
Also, I think it's being nice to strangers to use the full common
nouns to save them guesses; I always wondered why Web dictionaries
use abbreviations: annoying strangers or saving paper for full
prints?<br>
Polyglot, we must forgive the Russian Ул. because they never write
anything else on maps, envelopes, like ЖД and РЖД.<br>
(no mockery, I just love this remark:) The French word is
abréviation; why is it so long and why did the English lengthen it
even more to abbreviation? :-)<br>
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Cheers,<br>
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<td>André.</td>
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