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acronym-esis

English translation: General note on context

15:54 Oct 28, 2001
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
English term or phrase: acronym-esis
Hewlett-Packard (HP), the #3 computer company worldwide (behind acronym-esis IBM and Compaq)...
Miklos Takacs (X)
Hungary
Local time: 17:24
Selected answer:General note on context
Explanation:
Ample context from the asker is both a valuable tool and a simple courtesy much appreciated by your would-be helpers: Both to help us invest our own time efficiently in your behalf -- as you are requesting -- and to give you the best answers possible, it makes good sense to include adequate context in your queries -- as a minimum:
(1) a definition of the general context (subject matter), plus
(2) ample specific context: the entire source sentence (or more -- excepting of course confidential/proprietary information, which can be disguised or omitted.)
(Other useful information may include for instance the target audience/country and the purpose of the translation.)

All the best, Tom.
Selected response from:

Tom Funke
Local time: 11:24
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5General note on context
Tom Funke
4 +1acro-nemesis: top competitor
Fuad Yahya
5read: "acro-nemesis"
Ulrike Lieder (X)
5acro-nemeses
Michael Estes
4-esis is a suffix
Catherine Bolton
4 -1acronymese
Hanna Burdon


  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
acronymese


Explanation:
Was it supposed to be "acronymese"?

acronymese (n, adj) Text that contains many acronyms. Example: "Submit the WWW URL to your TCP/IP ISP to get a POP connection." is clearly acronymese.
http://www.mindspring.com/~jimvb/nonword.htm

Acronym Soup - a glossary of UAV acronymese;
http://www.uavforum.com/library/library.htm


    Reference: http://www.mindspring.com/~jimvb/nonword.htm
    Reference: http://www.uavforum.com/library/library.htm
Hanna Burdon
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:24
Native speaker of: Polish
PRO pts in pair: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Umit Altug: acronym-esis is a brand name
3 mins
  -> Brand name of what???
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17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
acro-nemesis: top competitor


Explanation:
It looks like a play on words. Acro-nemesis means top adversary (in this case, top competitor). It looks as though the writer wanted to play with words a bit. Both IBM and HP are better known by their acronyms than by their full names, so acro-nemesis was turned into acronym-esis. Cute...maybe.

Fuad

Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 893

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Nina Engberg: I guess I learned something new today. Interesting!
14 mins
agree  Abu Amaal (X): the echo, such as it is, is of "arch-nemesis"
4 hrs
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
read: "acro-nemesis"


Explanation:
If you say it out loud, "nym-esis" sounds like nemesis, and that's what's meant here. It's a play on words, indicating that IBM (an acronym) is HP's nemesis (HP, of course, also being an acronym) - HP just can't overtake Big Blue and take the #1 spot in the industry.

Only a few references on acronym-esis, all relating to HP and IBM and their ranking in the industry. This one might make the play on words a bit more obvious.

HP is best known as IBM's great computer hardware acronym-esis. But Hewlett-Packard, the #2 computer company worldwide (behind Big Blue), is a top provider of computers, peripherals, and computer-related services, which account for nearly 85% of sales.
www.thestandard.com.au/companies/company_display/0,1591,107...

HTH


Ulrike Lieder (X)
Local time: 08:24
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in pair: 20
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
General note on context


Explanation:
Ample context from the asker is both a valuable tool and a simple courtesy much appreciated by your would-be helpers: Both to help us invest our own time efficiently in your behalf -- as you are requesting -- and to give you the best answers possible, it makes good sense to include adequate context in your queries -- as a minimum:
(1) a definition of the general context (subject matter), plus
(2) ample specific context: the entire source sentence (or more -- excepting of course confidential/proprietary information, which can be disguised or omitted.)
(Other useful information may include for instance the target audience/country and the purpose of the translation.)

All the best, Tom.


Tom Funke
Local time: 11:24
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 8
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Werner George Patels, M.A., C.Tran.(ATIO) (X): Thx for continuing to post this message. Hope it'll raise some awareness among askers
41 mins
agree  Abu Amaal (X): we could ask them to put in a "confirm" button for "other" ...
3 hrs
agree  Nina Engberg
4 hrs
agree  Gilda Manara
5 hrs
agree  AngieD
12 hrs
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
acro-nemeses


Explanation:
Plural form of "acro-nemesis"

Michael Estes
PRO pts in pair: 96
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23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
-esis is a suffix


Explanation:
-esis is a suffix meaning "action" or "process". Moreover, it would be "-eses" if it were plural. Ergo, I think it refers only to IBM and not to Compaq, which isn't an acronym in the first place.
It is undoubtedly a pun, but I think what is meant is that IBM is driven or activated by all the acronyms it uses (and that are also present in its name) and does not refer to Compaq at all.

Catherine Bolton
Local time: 17:24
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 98
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