OBGYN -- False acronym?

[prezbucky]

This has been gnawing at me for quite some time (years):

Every time I hear some bubbly woman say "O.B.G.Y.N." on screen or on TV (etc.) I want to yank out a tuft of hair because it is a false acronym.

What is an acceptable acronym? What are the acronym basics?

1) The entity's full name has more than one word, and
2) Each of those words is represented in the acronym using the first letter (or couple of letters, as the case may be) of each word.
3) Linking words (of, and, for, etc.) are usually left out of the acronym

So if we want to refer to an Obstetrics & Gynecology professional using an acronym, wouldn't it be better for us to refer to the professional as an "O.G."?

As in, "I saw my O.G. yesterday and she told me to stop taking The Pill."

I could also stomach a sensible abbreviation:

"I went to see my Ob/Gyn (pronounced as two words: ahb/gain) yesterday."

The fact is, O.B.G.Y.N. is not a true acronym. As such, it frankly sucks. Somewhere the "Older Boys and Girls of Youthful Notoriety" club is guffawing: "They stole our acronym, the buncha lousy bastards! And it don't even fit!"
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[Torsten]

Hi Tom,

"O.G" wouldn't be an acronym if you pronounced each letter individually. An acronym is a word that has been made up of the first letters of other words. For example, NATO and NASDAQ are acronyms while USA and FBI are abbreviations.

That's how I see it.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[prezbucky]

it'd be a short acronym, sure.

Or a simple abbreviation.

(you could always say "Og" -- rhyming with "bog". hehe)

NASCAR

National Association of Stock Car Aficionado Rednecks

(hehe -- that's not really what it is)

[Molly]

Tortsten is half-correct. O.G., USA, and FBI, are initialisms and not acronyms.

[Torsten]

So, what is the difference between an initialism and an alphabetism?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary