WMDs or WsMD?

Question

Weapons of Mass Destruction, when abbreviated, is changed to WMDs, not WsMD; that is, the plural s is transferred to the end of the abbreviation. Does anyone know if there is a name for this sort of formation?

Answer 1

First off, not an acronym, it's an initialism.

Secondly, the reason is that WMD stands as a singular noun. A weapon of mass destruction. This is why you can say "they found -a- WMD," etc. Since people mostly use the initialism instead of the whole thing, it is acceptable to pluralize the initialism to make it clear that you are referring to more than one. Thus, WMDs.

This happens often with acronyms and initialisms that have nouns in the lead.

Answer 2

Other than just plain incorrect, I don't think so. It's not a spoonerism. It reflects a tendency I've noticed with other abbreviations (though I can't think of one offhand) to regard an abbreviation as singular even if the "main noun" in the spelt out version is already pluralised.

Answer 3

An abbreviation

Answer 4

I am going to start calling them Acronyms of Transpositional Pluralization, or ATPs. :) We could also just call them "pluralized acronyms", I guess. But that's boring. And not nearly so sarcastic.
You see the same phenomenon in sports statistics that are known by their acronyms: ERAs, RBIs, OBPs, GAAs, PPGs, YPGs, etc.
I've heard many sportscasters on ESPN refusing to add the "s" on the end unless the plural is the last word.

Answer 5

Using the letters instead of the full words is called an acronym, and they are treated as their own word, which is why the "s" to indicate pluralization goes at the end. It is standard English usage to do so.

Answer 6

Because most people who abbreviate words are retards, and just want to sound cool.

Answer 7

It is WMD. Acronym for

W(eapons of)

M(***)

D(estruction)

'Of' is omitted as insignificant.

There is no special name for the sort of formation you refer to..

Answer 8

No, but if I find out I'll try and let you know.