3 common linguistic terms that people often botch

Have you ever used a word incorrectly? It’s embarrassing.

Here are three terms people often misuse, along with tips on how to use them properly.

 [Adverb] + unique

At a family gathering, I told my uncle I was reading a book that was “very unique.” He informed me that my statement didn’t make sense, because the word “unique” means one of a kind. How can anything be “very one of a kind”? Thanks, Uncle Lou.

Two terrific alternatives to unique are distinctive and unusual. They don’t have quite the same meaning, but they’re close. Plus, it’s acceptable to pair adverbs with them.

Acronyms versus initialisms

FBI is not an acronym, nor are CIA and NSA. Evidently, most U.S. government abbreviations are not acronyms; they’re initialisms.

Acronyms are pronounced as their own words, such as NASA or FEMA, whereas initialisms are abbreviations in which you pronounce every letter individually.

Therefore, since we say “F-B-I” with each of its individual letters, it’s actually an initialism, not an acronym. It would only be an acronym if we pronounced it as “fbye.” Fortunately, we don’t.

Some abbreviations defy this, however. The abbreviation for “standard operating procedure” is said “S-O-P,” not “sop.”