askchapo

22936 readers

31 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

Posts must ask a question.
If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.
Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.
Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net

replaceable@hexbear.net

VILenin@hexbear.net

EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net

SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net

ZoomeristLeninist@hexbear.net

khizuo@hexbear.net

Sulv@hexbear.net

Why is it "DPRK" and "ROC" and not something like "DPROC and ROK" or some other variant? (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 months ago by Dessa@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Are the C and the K interchangeable? Why does the "of" in Republic of Corea get in thr acronym while "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" ditches the "of" in the acronym?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] edge@hexbear.net 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Because 3-4 letters is a (subjectively) ideal range for acronyms, especially initialisms. Two is too short and has much more potential for overlap (RC is remote/radio control, among other things). Four is already a little clunky to say each letter, five would be too much. So short grammar words like "of", "to", "the", etc get kept or dropped as needed to make it sound nicer.