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101-571: 1917–1934: The Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF) purchased the property and mined anhydrite for gypsum . 1935 summer: At the suggestion of IG Farben , the Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft (WIFO) (English: Economic Research Company ) investigated the mine to centralize a fuel and chemical depot. 1936: Wifo took over the mines to create a highly secret central petroleum reserve . The Government's Industrial Research Association invested some effort in adapting

202-428: A numeronym . For example, "i18n" abbreviates " internationalization ", a computer-science term for adapting software for worldwide use; the "18" represents the 18 letters that come between the first and the last in "internationalization". Similarly, "localization" can be abbreviated "l10n"; " multilingualization " "m17n"; and " accessibility " "a11y". In addition to the use of a specific number replacing that many letters,

303-641: A single word ("television" or "transvestite", for instance), and is in general spelled without punctuation (except in the plural). Although "PS" stands for the single English word " postscript " or the Latin postscriptum , it is often spelled with periods ("P.S.") as if parsed as Latin post scriptum instead. The slash ('/', or solidus ) is sometimes used to separate the letters in an acronym, as in "N/A" ("not applicable, not available") and "c/o" ("care of"). Inconveniently long words used frequently in related contexts can be represented according to their letter count as

404-498: A 1940 translation of a novel by the German writer Lion Feuchtwanger . It is an unsettled question in English lexicography and style guides whether it is legitimate to use the word acronym to describe forms that use initials but are not pronounced as a word. While there is plenty of evidence that acronym is used widely in this way, some sources do not acknowledge this usage, reserving

505-555: A BASF site in Ludwigshafen , killing 207 people and injuring 3818. In 1952, BASF was refounded under its name following the efforts of former Nazi Party member Carl Wurster , who served in Nazi Germany as Wehrwirtschaftsführer (war economy leader). With the German economic miracle in the 1950s, BASF added synthetics such as nylon to its product range. BASF developed Polystyrene in

606-401: A British patent on 25 June 1869. Coincidentally, Perkin applied for a virtually identical patent on 26 June 1869, and the two companies came to a mutual commercial agreement about the process. Further patents were granted for the synthesis of methylene blue and eosin , and in 1880, research began to try to find a synthetic process for indigo dye , though this was not successfully brought to

707-606: A German archaeologist and scientist who dived in the tunnel system in 1992 and 1998, estimated that 70 tons of material was stolen. Access through these entrances was secured not until 2004, when the mine went into insolvency. In 1366 the Hohnstein counts had the Schnabelsburg (a castle, later a daytrippers restaurant) built on the Kohnstein. At Maienkopf there was an open-air stage from 1934 which had 500 seats. In more recent times

808-617: A different meaning. Medical literature has been struggling to control the proliferation of acronyms, including efforts by the American Academy of Dermatology. Acronyms are often taught as mnemonic devices: for example the colors of the rainbow are ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). They are also used as mental checklists: in aviation GUMPS stands for gas-undercarriage-mixture-propeller-seat belts. Other mnemonic acronyms include CAN SLIM in finance, PAVPANIC in English grammar, and PEMDAS in mathematics. It

909-413: A joint venture named Styrolution . Polyurethanes BASF's Polyurethanes business consists of diverse technologies and finished products. Urethane chemicals are raw materials used in rigid and flexible foams commonly used for insulation in the construction and appliance industries, furniture, packaging, and transportation. Initialism An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of

1010-760: A medial decimal point . Particularly in British and Commonwealth English , all such punctuation marking acronyms and other capitalized abbreviations is now uncommon and considered either unnecessary or incorrect. The presence of all-capital letters is now thought sufficient to indicate the nature of the UK , the EU , and the UN . Forms such as the U.S.A. for "the United States of America " are now considered to indicate American or North American English . Even within those dialects, such punctuation

1111-407: A period when the letters are pronounced individually, as in " K.G.B. ", but not when pronounced as a word, as in " NATO ". The logic of this style is that the pronunciation is reflected graphically by the punctuation scheme. When a multiple-letter abbreviation is formed from a single word, periods are in general not used, although they may be common in informal usage. "TV", for example, may stand for

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1212-405: A phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial letter of each word in all caps with no punctuation . For some, an initialism or alphabetism , connotes this general meaning, and an acronym is a subset with a narrower definition: an initialism pronounced as a word rather than as

1313-480: A sequence of letters. In this sense, NASA / ˈ n æ s ə / is an acronym but USA / j uː ɛ s ˈ eɪ / is not. The broader sense of acronym , ignoring pronunciation, is its original meaning and in common use. Dictionary and style-guide editors dispute whether the term acronym can be legitimately applied to abbreviations which are not pronounced as words, and they do not agree on acronym spacing , casing , and punctuation . The phrase that

1414-436: A single word, such as NATO (as distinct from B-B-C )" but adds later "In everyday use, acronym is often applied to abbreviations that are technically initialisms, since they are pronounced as separate letters." The Chicago Manual of Style acknowledges the complexity ("Furthermore, an acronym and initialism are occasionally combined (JPEG), and the line between initialism and acronym is not always clear") but still defines

1515-594: A site in Schwarzheide , Eastern Germany , on 25 October 1990. In 1968, BASF (together with Bayer AG ) bought the German coatings company Herbol . BASF completely took over the Herbol branches in Cologne and Würzburg in 1970. Under new management, the renewal and expansion of the trademark continued. After an extensive reorganisation and an increasing international orientation of the coatings business, Herbol became part of

1616-497: A twentieth-century phenomenon. Linguist David Wilton in Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends claims that "forming words from acronyms is a distinctly twentieth- (and now twenty-first-) century phenomenon. There is only one known pre-twentieth-century [English] word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue for only a short time in 1886. The word is colinderies or colinda , an acronym for

1717-485: A wide variety of industries. Despite its size and global presence, BASF has received relatively little public attention since it abandoned the manufacture and sale of BASF-branded consumer electronics products in the 1990s. The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1865. Fritz Haber worked with Carl Bosch , one of its employees, to invent the Haber-Bosch process by 1912, after which the company grew rapidly. In 1925,

1818-471: A word, an abbreviation is not an acronym." In contrast, some style guides do support it, whether explicitly or implicitly. The 1994 edition of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage defends the usage on the basis of a claim that dictionaries do not make a distinction. The BuzzFeed style guide describes CBS and PBS as "acronyms ending in S". Acronymy, like retronymy , is a linguistic process that has existed throughout history but for which there

1919-639: A word. American English dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster , Dictionary.com's Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary as well as the British Oxford English Dictionary and the Australian Macquarie Dictionary all include a sense in their entries for acronym equating it with initialism , although The American Heritage Dictionary criticizes it with

2020-482: Is a European multinational company and the largest chemical producer in the world . Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen , Germany. BASF comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries, operating six integrated production sites and 390 other production sites across Europe , Asia , Australia , the Americas and Africa . BASF has customers in over 190 countries and supplies products to

2121-488: Is a question about how to pluralize acronyms. Often a writer will add an 's' following an apostrophe, as in "PC's". However, Kate L. Turabian 's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations , writing about style in academic writings, allows for an apostrophe to form plural acronyms "only when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters". Turabian would therefore prefer "DVDs" and "URLs" but "Ph.D.'s". The style guides of

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2222-546: Is an acronym for Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik ( German for 'Baden Aniline and Soda Factory'). It was founded by Friedrich Engelhorn on 6 April 1865 in Mannheim , in the German-speaking state of Baden . Engelhorn had been responsible for setting up a gasworks and street lighting for the town council in 1861. The gasworks produced tar as a by-product from coal, and Engelhorn used this to extract aniline for

2323-707: Is becoming increasingly uncommon. Some style guides , such as that of the BBC , no longer require punctuation to show ellipsis ; some even proscribe it. Larry Trask , American author of The Penguin Guide to Punctuation , states categorically that, in British English , "this tiresome and unnecessary practice is now obsolete." Nevertheless, some influential style guides , many of them American , still require periods in certain instances. For example, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage recommends following each segment with

2424-411: Is common for grammatical contractions (e.g. don't , y'all , and ain't ) and for contractions marking unusual pronunciations (e.g. a'ight , cap'n , and fo'c'sle for "all right", "captain", and "forecastle"). By the early twentieth century, it was standard to use a full stop/period/point , especially in the cases of initialisms and acronyms. Previously, especially for Latin abbreviations , this

2525-631: Is especially important for paper media, where no search utility is available to find the first use.) It also gives students a convenient review list to memorize the important acronyms introduced in a textbook chapter. Expansion at first use and abbreviation keys originated in the print era, but they are equally useful for electronic text . While acronyms provide convenience and succinctness for specialists, they often degenerate into confusing jargon . This may be intentional, to exclude readers without domain-specific knowledge. New acronyms may also confuse when they coincide with an already existing acronym having

2626-556: Is expected to be completed by 2030. In August 2019, BASF agreed to sell its global pigments business to Japanese fine chemical company DIC for €1.15 billion ($ 1.28 billion) on a cash and debt-free basis. In September 2019, BASF signed an agreement with DuPont Safety & Construction, a subsidiary business unit of DuPont , to sell its ultrafiltration membrane business, Inge GmbH. According to BASF executives, Inge GmbH and its products fit better with DuPont and their business strategy. In February 2023, BASF announced that

2727-464: Is generally said as two letters, but IPsec for Internet Protocol Security is usually pronounced as / ˌ aɪ ˈ p iː s ɛ k / or / ˈ ɪ p s ɛ k / , along with variant capitalization like "IPSEC" and "Ipsec". Pronunciation may even vary within a single speaker's vocabulary, depending on narrow contexts. As an example, the database programming language SQL is usually said as three letters, but in reference to Microsoft's implementation

2828-459: Is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind of false etymology , called a folk etymology , for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no factual basis in historical linguistics , and are examples of language-related urban legends . For example, " cop " is commonly cited as being derived, it is presumed, from "constable on patrol", and " posh " from " port outward, starboard home ". With some of these specious expansions,

2929-415: Is traditionally pronounced like the word sequel . In writing for a broad audience, the words of an acronym are typically written out in full at its first occurrence within a given text. Expansion At First Use (EAFU) benefits readers unfamiliar with the acronym. Another text aid is an abbreviation key which lists and expands all acronyms used, a reference for readers who skipped past the first use. (This

3030-507: The Colonial and Indian Exposition held in London in that year." However, although acronymic words seem not to have been employed in general vocabulary before the twentieth century (as Wilton points out), the concept of their formation is treated as effortlessly understood (and evidently not novel) in an Edgar Allan Poe story of the 1830s, " How to Write a Blackwood Article ", which includes

3131-916: The Kaiser Way (an old military road or Heerstraße ) runs along the Kohnstein. Nearby is the Karst Trail . Around 550 metres east of the summit and about 600 metres northwest of the former Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp is an open area in the woods where several trails meet and known as the Komödienplatz . The Komödienplatz hosts the May festivals of Nordhausen Grammar School ( Nordhäuser Gymnasium ), founded in 1835; schoolchildren put on Latin comedies. BASF BASF SE ( German pronunciation: [beːaːɛsˈʔɛf] ), an initialism of its original name Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik ( German for 'Baden Aniline and Soda Factory'),

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3232-612: The Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association prohibit apostrophes from being used to pluralize acronyms regardless of periods (so "compact discs" would be "CDs" or "C.D.s"), whereas The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage requires an apostrophe when pluralizing all abbreviations regardless of periods (preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's"). Possessive plurals that also include apostrophes for mere pluralization and periods appear especially complex: for example, "the C.D.'s' labels" (the labels of

3333-533: The Restoration witticism arranging the names of some members of Charles II 's Committee for Foreign Affairs to produce the "CABAL" ministry . OK , a term of disputed origin, dates back at least to the early nineteenth century and is now used around the world. Acronyms are used most often to abbreviate names of organizations and long or frequently referenced terms. The armed forces and government agencies frequently employ acronyms; some well-known examples from

3434-578: The magnetophon  – the first tape recorder  – at the Radio Exhibition in Berlin. After the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, IG Farben cooperated with the National Socialist government , profiting from guaranteed volumes and prices and, in time, from forced ("unfree") labour provided through governmental concentration camps . BASF (leader of the chemical industry of

3535-480: The "belief" that the etymology is acronymic has clearly been tongue-in-cheek among many citers, as with "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden" for " golf ", although many other (more credulous ) people have uncritically taken it for fact. Taboo words in particular commonly have such false etymologies: " shit " from "ship/store high in transit" or "special high-intensity training" and " fuck " from "for unlawful carnal knowledge", or "fornication under consent/command of

3636-463: The 160-character SMS limit, and to save time, acronyms such as "GF" ("girlfriend"), "LOL" ("laughing out loud"), and "DL" ("download" or "down low") have become popular. Some prescriptivists disdain texting acronyms and abbreviations as decreasing clarity, or as failure to use "pure" or "proper" English. Others point out that languages have always continually changed , and argue that acronyms should be embraced as inevitable, or as innovation that adapts

3737-461: The 18 letters between the initial "i" and the final "n"). Authors of expository writing will sometimes capitalize or otherwise distinctively format the initials of the expansion for pedagogical emphasis (for example, writing: "the onset of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)" or "the onset of c ongestive h eart f ailure (CHF)"). Capitalization like this, however, conflicts with the convention of English orthography, which generally reserves capitals in

3838-526: The 1930s and invented Styropor in 1951. In the 1960s, production abroad was expanded and plants were built in Argentina , Australia , Belgium , Brazil , France , India , Italy , Japan , Mexico , Spain , United Kingdom and the United States . Following a change in corporate strategy in 1965, greater emphasis was placed on higher-value products such as coatings, pharmaceuticals , pesticides and fertilizers. Following German reunification , BASF acquired

3939-574: The 51,445 concentration camp laborers supplied by the Nazis. Spread out over 23 facilities, it is estimated that 31,500–33,500 of those concentration camp inmates were killed by authorities or died from starvation, exhaustion, or disease. The Ludwigshafen site was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War but was subsequently rebuilt. The allies dissolved IG Farben in November 1945. Both

4040-480: The American strikers and organized rallies and publicity in support. The dispute was the subject of an academic study. The union also exposed major accidental releases of phosgene, toluene and other toxic gases, these being publicized in the local media and through a video, Out of Control . A court threw out a $ 66,700 fine against BASF for five environmental violations as "too small". BASF's European coatings business

4141-566: The BASF site. The discovery in 1857 by William Henry Perkin that aniline could be used to make intense colouring agents had led to the commercial production of synthetic dyes in England from aniline extracted from coal tar. BASF recruited Heinrich Caro , a German chemist with experience of the dyestuff industry in England, to be the first head of research. Caro developed a synthesis for alizarin (a red dye used for dying textile fabrics) and applied for

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4242-461: The British press may render it "Nato"), but uses lower case in " Unicef " (from "United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund") because it is more than four letters, and to style it in caps might look ungainly (flirting with the appearance of "shouting capitals"). While abbreviations typically exclude the initials of short function words (such as "and", "or", "of", or "to"), this is not always

4343-460: The Foams and Copolymers. BASF's styrenic copolymers have applications in electronics, building and construction, and automotive components. In 2011 BASF and INEOS blended their global business activities in the fields of styrene monomers (SM), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene butadiene copolymers (SBC) and other styrene-based copolymers (SAN, AMSAN, ASA, MABS) into

4444-766: The IG Farben) built a 24km chemical factory in Auschwitz named "IG Auschwitz", the largest chemical factory in the world at the time. IG Farben became notorious through its production of Zyklon-B , the lethal gas used to kill prisoners in German extermination camps during the Holocaust . IG Farben made extensive use of forced labor during WWII consisting mostly of drafted "service-duty" Germans, foreign workers from German-occupied territories, and prisoners of war. By 1943, nearly one-half of all IG Farben workers were forced laborers housed in factory-camp facilities. This number did not include

4545-482: The Ludwigshafen and Oppau plants were of strategic importance for the war because the German military needed many of their products ( e.g. , synthetic rubber and gasoline). As a result, they were major targets for air raids. During the war, Allied bombers attacked the plants a total of 65 times. Bombing took place from the autumn of 1943 and saturation bombing inflicted extensive damage. Production virtually stopped by

4646-621: The Nordhausen plant from Peenemünde . 1943 September: Conversion of tunnels for V-2 rocket production was started. 1944 Spring: Ventilation and heating construction was completed. 1944 May or June: Mittelwerk had to compress all its facilities into tunnels 21-46, disrupting production. 1945 April 11: After previously entering the Nordhausen plant from the North through the Junkers Nordwerke, 3rd US Armored and 104th Infantry Divisions reached

4747-564: The U.S. Navy, is "COMCRUDESPAC", which stands for "commander, cruisers destroyers Pacific"; it is also seen as "ComCruDesPac". Inventors are encouraged to anticipate the formation of acronyms by making new terms "YABA-compatible" ("yet another bloody acronym"), meaning the term's acronym can be pronounced and is not an offensive word: "When choosing a new name, be sure it is 'YABA-compatible'." Acronym use has been further popularized by text messaging on mobile phones with short message service (SMS), and instant messenger (IM). To fit messages into

4848-548: The United States are among the " alphabet agencies " (jokingly referred to as " alphabet soup ") created under the New Deal by Franklin D. Roosevelt (himself known as "FDR"). Business and industry also coin acronyms prolifically. The rapid advance of science and technology also drives the usage, as new inventions and concepts with multiword names create a demand for shorter, more pronounceable names. One representative example, from

4949-571: The acquisition of Bayer AG 's agrochemical and seed business help to offset some of the effects of the trade war. BASF operates in a variety of markets. As of 2020 its business is organized in the segments of Chemicals, Plastics, Performance Products, Functional Solutions, Agricultural Solutions, and Oil and Gas. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals such as solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases , basic petrochemicals, and inorganic chemicals (such as Z-Cote ). The most important customers for this segment are

5050-723: The acquisition of Cognis . In May 2015, BASF agreed to sell parts of its pharmaceutical ingredients business to Swiss drug manufacturer Siegfried Holding for a fee of €270 million, including assumed debt. Since 2016, BASF has partnered with a subsidiary of Xinjiang Zhongtai Group , a company sanctioned under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act , to operate a plant in Korla . In October 2017, BASF announced it would buy seed and herbicide businesses from Bayer for €5.9 billion ($ 7 billion), as part of Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto . The company announced

5151-411: The acronym may use normal case rules, e.g. it would appear generally in lower case, but with an initial capital when starting a sentence or when in a title. Once knowledge of the words underlying such an acronym has faded from common recall, the acronym may be termed an anacronym . Examples of anacronyms are the words " scuba ", " radar ", and " laser ". The word "an acro nym" should not be confused with

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5252-489: The acronym stands for is called its expansion . The meaning of an acronym includes both its expansion and the meaning of its expansion. The word acronym is formed from the Greek roots akro- , meaning 'height, summit, or tip', and -nym , 'name'. This neoclassical compound appears to have originated in German , with attestations for the German form Akronym appearing as early as 1921. Citations in English date to

5353-577: The adoption of acronyms was modern warfare, with its many highly technical terms. While there is no recorded use of military acronyms dating from the American Civil War (acronyms such as "ANV" for " Army of Northern Virginia " post-date the war itself), they became somewhat common in World War I , and by World War II they were widespread even in the slang of soldiers, who referred to themselves as G.I.s . The widespread, frequent use of acronyms across

5454-497: The apostrophe should be reserved for the possessive ("the TV's antenna"). In some languages, the convention of doubling the letters in the acronym is used to indicate plural words: for example, the Spanish EE.UU. , for Estados Unidos ('United States'). This old convention is still sometimes followed for a limited number of English abbreviations, such as SS. for Saints , pp. for

5555-585: The automotive industry. In September 2023 BASF broke ground on its Zhanjiang syngas plant; the plant was due to be commissioned by 2025. In November 2023 the firm closed a $ 5bn 15-year investment deal in China, with Chinese banks. As of April 2023, BASF had 30 production facilities in China. CEO Martin Brudermüller held that Chinese revenue is essential to grow his European business in the face of "Europe’s high energy costs and stringent environmental rules." With

5656-1159: The case. Sometimes function words are included to make a pronounceable acronym, such as CORE ( Congress of Racial Equality ). Sometimes the letters representing these words are written in lower case, such as in the cases of "TfL" (" Transport for London ") and LotR ( The Lord of the Rings ); this usually occurs when the acronym represents a multi-word proper noun. Numbers (both cardinal and ordinal ) in names are often represented by digits rather than initial letters, as in "4GL" (" fourth generation language ") or "G77" (" Group of 77 "). Large numbers may use metric prefixes , as with " Y2K " for "Year 2000". Exceptions using initials for numbers include " TLA " ("three-letter acronym/abbreviation") and "GoF" (" Gang of Four "). Abbreviations using numbers for other purposes include repetitions, such as " A2DP " ("Advanced Audio Distribution Profile"), " W3C " ("World Wide Web Consortium"), and T3 ( Trends, Tips & Tools for Everyday Living ); pronunciation, such as " B2B " ("business to business"); and numeronyms , such as "i18n" ("internationalization"; "18" represents

5757-554: The coatings and paints industry and strengthened the company's market presence, particularly in North America. The acquisition of Degussa AG's construction chemicals business was completed in 2006. The purchase price for equity was about €2.2 billion. In addition, the transaction was associated with a debt of €500 million. The company agreed to acquire Ciba (formerly part of Ciba-Geigy ) in September 2008. The proposed deal

5858-413: The compact discs). In some instances, however, an apostrophe may increase clarity: for example, if the final letter of an abbreviation is "S", as in "SOS's" (although abbreviations ending with S can also take "-es", e.g. "SOSes"), or when pluralizing an abbreviation that has periods. A particularly rich source of options arises when the plural of an acronym would normally be indicated in a word other than

5959-746: The company invested €5.6 billion in Asia, specifically in sites near Nanjing , Shanghai and Jiangmen in China and Mangalore in India . BASF is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange , London Stock Exchange , and Zurich Stock Exchange . The company delisted its ADR from the New York Stock Exchange in September 2007. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index . BASF

6060-424: The company is planning to close one of its two ammonia factories at its site in Ludwigshafen, this comes as part of the companies plans to cut costs as the organisation has struggled with high energy costs. The result of the organisations plans will lead to increased production in China while resulting in the loss of 2,600 jobs. The Zhanjiang plant extends over 400 hectares and serves mainly the electronic industry and

6161-566: The company merged with several other German chemical companies to become the chemicals conglomerate IG Farben . IG Farben would go on to play a major role in the economy of Nazi Germany . It extensively employed forced and slave labor during the Nazi period, and produced the notorious Zyklon B chemical used in The Holocaust . IG Farben was disestablished by the Allies in 1945. BASF was reconstituted from

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6262-557: The contrived acronym "P.R.E.T.T.Y.B.L.U.E.B.A.T.C.H." The use of Latin and Neo-Latin terms in vernaculars has been pan-European and pre-dates modern English. Some examples of acronyms in this class are: The earliest example of a word derived from an acronym listed by the OED is "abjud" (now " abjad "), formed from the original first four letters of the Arabic alphabet in the late eighteenth century. Some acrostics pre-date this, however, such as

6363-438: The dictionary entries and style guide recommendations regarding the term acronym through the twentieth century did not explicitly acknowledge or support the expansive sense. The Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage from 1994 is one of the earliest publications to advocate for the expansive sense, and all the major dictionary editions that include a sense of acronym equating it with initialism were first published in

6464-609: The end of 1944. Due to a shortage of male workers during the war, women were conscripted to work in the factories, joined later by prisoners of war and foreign civilians. Concentration camp inmates did not work at the Ludwigshafen and Oppau plants. In July 1945, the American military administration confiscated all IG Farben assets. That same year, the Allied Commission decreed that IG Farben should be dissolved. The sites at Ludwigshafen and Oppau were controlled by French authorities. On 28 July 1948, an explosion occurred at

6565-451: The entrances of the tunnel system 1995: A new entrance tunnel was dug to former rail Tunnel A. Subsequently, a section of 710 m of the tunnel system was opened for visitors. After the 1990 reunification of Germany , the tunnels were frequently looted by treasure seekers who gained access via the private mine in the north of the Kohnstein. Large parts of the system are flooded by ground water, while other parts have collapsed. Willi Kramer ,

6666-643: The exclusive sense for acronym and its earliest citation was from 1943. In early December 2010, Duke University researcher Stephen Goranson published a citation for acronym to the American Dialect Society e-mail discussion list which refers to PGN being pronounced "pee-gee-enn", antedating English language usage of the word to 1940. Linguist Ben Zimmer then mentioned this citation in his December 16, 2010 " On Language " column about acronyms in The New York Times Magazine . By 2011,

6767-763: The final word if spelled out in full. A classic example is "Member of Parliament", which in plural is "Members of Parliament". It is possible then to abbreviate this as "M's P", which was fairly common in mid-twentieth-century Australian news writing (or similar ), and used by former Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley . This usage is less common than forms with "s" at the end, such as "MPs", and may appear dated or pedantic. In common usage, therefore, "weapons of mass destruction" becomes "WMDs", "prisoners of war" becomes "POWs", and "runs batted in" becomes "RBIs". Abbreviations that come from single, rather than multiple, words – such as "TV" ("television") – are usually pluralized without apostrophes ("two TVs"); most writers feel that

6868-458: The first letter of acronyms, reserving all-caps styling for initialisms, writing the pronounced acronyms "Nato" and "Aids" in mixed case, but the initialisms "USA" and "FBI" in all caps. For example, this is the style used in The Guardian , and BBC News typically edits to this style (though its official style guide, dating from 2003, still recommends all-caps ). The logic of this style is that

6969-534: The first-ever lawsuit concerning Dicamba -related products began in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The lawsuit involves a peach farmer who alleged that Dicamba-based herbicides caused significant damage to his crops and trees. It had also been filed in November 2016, when Dicamba was still owned by Monsanto. On 14 February 2020, the jury involved in the lawsuit ruled against BASF its co-defendant Bayer, which had acquired Monsanto and its products, and found in favor of

7070-572: The help of then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , BASF's Jürgen Hambrecht signed the Gazprom Nord Stream - Yuzhno-Russkoye deal in 2004 with a 49-51 structure, as opposed to the older 50-50 split of for example BP 's TNK-BP project. Putin at the time insisted on majority Russian ownership of any joint-venture in Russian territory since that time. BASF expanded to Podolsk , Russia , in 2012, and to Kazan in 2013. On 27 January 2020,

7171-435: The king". In English, abbreviations have previously been marked by a wide variety of punctuation . Obsolete forms include using an overbar or colon to show the ellipsis of letters following the initial part. The forward slash is still common in many dialects for some fixed expressions—such as in w/ for "with" or A/C for " air conditioning "—while only infrequently being used to abbreviate new terms. The apostrophe

7272-486: The label "usage problem". However, many English language dictionaries, such as the Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary , Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary , Macmillan Dictionary , Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English , New Oxford American Dictionary , Webster's New World Dictionary , and Lexico from Oxford University Press do not acknowledge such a sense. Most of

7373-836: The language to changing circumstances. In this view, the modern practice is just the "proper" English of the current generation of speakers, much like the earlier abbreviation of corporation names on ticker tape or newspapers. Exact pronunciation of "word acronyms" (those pronounced as words rather than sounded out as individual letters) often vary by speaker population. These may be regional, occupational, or generational differences, or simply personal preference. For instance, there have been decades of online debate about how to pronounce GIF ( / ɡ ɪ f / or / dʒ ɪ f / ) and BIOS ( / ˈ b aɪ oʊ s / , / ˈ b aɪ oʊ z / , or / ˈ b aɪ ɒ s / ). Similarly, some letter-by-letter initialisms may become word acronyms over time, especially in combining forms: IP for Internet Protocol

7474-511: The market until 1897. In 1901, some 80% of the BASF production was dyestuffs. Sodium carbonate (soda) was produced by the Leblanc process until 1880, when the much cheaper Solvay process became available. BASF ceased to make its own and bought it from the Solvay company thereafter. Sulfuric acid was initially produced by the lead chamber process , but in 1890, a unit using the contact process

7575-463: The more general "x" can be used to replace an unspecified number of letters. Examples include "Crxn" for "crystallization" and the series familiar to physicians for history , diagnosis , and treatment ("hx", "dx", "tx"). Terms relating to a command structure may also sometimes use this formatting, for example gold, silver, and bronze levels of command in UK policing being referred to as Gx, Sx, and Bx. There

7676-721: The new founded Deco GmbH in 1997. BASF bought the Wyandotte Chemical Company, and its Geismar, Louisiana chemical plant in the early 1970s. The plant produced plastics, herbicides, and antifreeze. BASF soon tried to operate union-free, having already reduced or eliminated union membership in several other US plants. Challenging the Geismar OCAW union resulted in a labor dispute that saw members locked out from 1984 to 1989, and eventually winning their case. A worker solidarity committee at BASF's headquarters plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, took donations from German workers to support

7777-468: The peach grower, Bader Farms owner Bill Bader. BASF and Bayer were also ordered to pay Bader $ 15 million in damages. On 15 February 2020, Monsanto and BASF were ordered to pay an additional $ 250 million in punitive damages. For the fiscal year 2017, BASF reported earnings of €6.1 billion, with an annual revenue of €64.5 billion, an increase of 12% over the previous fiscal cycle. BASF's shares traded at over €69 per share, and its market capitalization

7878-488: The pharmaceutical, construction, textile, and automotive industries. BASF's plastic products include high-performance materials in thermoplastics , foams, and urethanes. Engineering Plastics BASF's Engineering Plastics consists of the "4 Ultras" – Ultramid polyamide (PA) nylon-based resins, Ultradur, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), Ultraform, polyacetal (POM), and Ultrason, polysulfone (PSU) and polyethersulfone (PES). Styrenics BASF Styrenics consists of

7979-721: The plural of 'pages', or mss. for manuscripts . The most common capitalization scheme seen with acronyms is all-uppercase ( all caps ). Small caps are sometimes used to make the run of capital letters seem less jarring to the reader. For example, the style of some American publications, including the Atlantic Monthly and USA Today , is to use small caps for acronyms longer than three letters; thus "U.S." and " FDR " in normal caps, but " nato " in small caps. The acronyms " AD " and " BC " are often smallcapped as well, as in: "From 4004 bc to ad 525 ". Where an acronym has linguistically taken on an identity as regular word,

8080-626: The process, in 1913, BASF started a new production plant in Oppau , adding fertilizers to its product range. BASF also acquired and began mining anhydrite for gypsum at the Kohnstein in 1917. In 1916, BASF started operations at a new site in Leuna , where explosives were produced during the First World War . On 21 September 1921, an explosion occurred in Oppau , killing 565 people. The Oppau explosion

8181-461: The production of dyes . BASF was set up in 1865, to produce other chemicals necessary for dye production, notably soda and acids. The plant, however, was erected on the other side of the Rhine river at Ludwigshafen because the town council of Mannheim was afraid that the air pollution from the chemical plant could bother the inhabitants of the town. In 1866, the dye production processes were also moved to

8282-483: The pronunciation is reflected graphically by the capitalization scheme. However, it conflicts with conventional English usage of first-letter upper-casing as a marker of proper names in many cases; e.g. AIDS stands for acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome which is not a proper name, while Aids is in the style of one. Some style manuals also base the letters' case on their number. The New York Times , for example, keeps "NATO" in all capitals (while several guides in

8383-674: The publication of the 3rd edition of the Oxford English Dictionary added the expansive sense to its entry for acronym and included the 1940 citation. As the Oxford English Dictionary structures the senses in order of chronological development, it now gives the "initialism" sense first. English language usage and style guides which have entries for acronym generally criticize the usage that refers to forms that are not pronounceable words. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage says that acronym "denotes abbreviations formed from initial letters of other words and pronounced as

8484-474: The remnants of IG Farben in 1952. It was part of the German economic miracle , and has since expanded considerably. It has received modern criticism for its poor environmental record. At the end of 2019, the company employed 117,628 people, with over 54,000 in Germany. In 2019 , BASF posted sales of €59.3 billion and income from operations before special items of about €4.5 billion. Between 1990 and 2005,

8585-470: The sides of railroad cars (e.g., "Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad" → "RF&P"); on the sides of barrels and crates; and on ticker tape and newspaper stock listings (e.g. American Telephone and Telegraph Company → AT&T). Some well-known commercial examples dating from the 1890s through 1920s include " Nabisco " ("National Biscuit Company"), " Esso " (from "S.O.", from " Standard Oil "), and " Sunoco " ("Sun Oil Company"). Another field for

8686-480: The site seemed ideal for A-4 production, but Hermann Göring initially forbade the use for missile production (Hitler overruled). 1943 August (end): The Armaments Ministry seized the facility from Hermann Göring's Four-Year Plan organization . 1943 November (late): Mittelwerk GmbH leased the Kohnstein mine from Wifo, the owner. 1943 September early: Albin Sawatzki, Arthur Rudolph , and about ten engineers moved to

8787-409: The start of a US$ 10 billion investment project in the south-western Chinese city of Zhanjiang , in November 2019. The project was approved in 2022. This ″Verbund″ site is intended for the production of engineering plastics and TPU. The site would be the third-largest BASF site worldwide, following Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp , Belgium. The first plant started up in 2022, and the entire site

8888-468: The term acronym only for forms pronounced as a word, and using initialism or abbreviation for those that are not. Some sources acknowledge the usage, but vary in whether they criticize or forbid it, allow it without comment, or explicitly advocate it. Some mainstream English dictionaries from across the English-speaking world affirm a sense of acronym which does not require being pronounced as

8989-502: The terms as mutually exclusive. Other guides outright deny any legitimacy to the usage: Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words says "Abbreviations that are not pronounced as words (IBM, ABC, NFL) are not acronyms; they are just abbreviations." Garner's Modern American Usage says "An acronym is made from the first letters or parts of a compound term. It's read or spoken as a single word, not letter by letter." The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage says "Unless pronounced as

9090-517: The town of Nordhausen on 11 April 1945 and discovered the dead and sick of the Boelcke Kaserne barracks at Mittelbau-Dora . 1945 June: The US Army left the Nordhausen plant as required by JCS Directive 1067/14 , with parts, machine tools, and documents (including blueprints for the projected A-9 /A-10 intercontinental missile) left for the Soviets. 1948 Summer: The Soviet army demolished both of

9191-465: The tunnels and galleries for the storage of critical chemicals like tetra-ethyl-lead (petroleum anti-knock). 1937–1940: Wifo phases I and II to extend the tunnels were completed, and the site stored oil, gasoline, and chemicals; as well as stockpiles of chemical poisons. 1943 July (mid): A production planner for Gerhard Degenkolb (i.e., the A-4 Special Committee), Paul Figge, determined that

9292-552: The twenty-first century. The trend among dictionary editors appears to be towards including a sense defining acronym as initialism : the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary added such a sense in its 11th edition in 2003, and both the Oxford English Dictionary and The American Heritage Dictionary added such senses in their 2011 editions. The 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary only included

9393-536: The whole range of linguistic registers is relatively new in most languages, becoming increasingly evident since the mid-twentieth century. As literacy spread and technology produced a constant stream of new and complex terms, abbreviations became increasingly convenient. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ) records the first printed use of the word initialism as occurring in 1899, but it did not come into general use until 1965, well after acronym had become common. In English, acronyms pronounced as words may be

9494-425: The word " an achro nym ", which is a type of misnomer. Words derived from an acronym by affixing are typically expressed in mixed case, so the root acronym is clear. For example, "pre-WWII politics", "post-NATO world", " DNase ". In some cases a derived acronym may also be expressed in mixed case. For example, " messenger RNA " and " transfer RNA " become "mRNA" and "tRNA". Some publications choose to capitalize only

9595-544: Was brought on stream, producing the acid at higher concentration (98% instead of 80%) and a lower cost. This development followed extensive research and development by Rudolf Knietsch, for which he received the Liebig Medal in 1904. The development of the Haber process from 1908 to 1912, made it possible to synthesize ammonia (a major industrial chemical as the primary source of nitrogen), and, after acquiring exclusive rights to

9696-511: Was done with a full space between every full word (e.g. A. D. , i. e. , and e. g. for " Anno Domini ", " id est ", and " exempli gratia "). This even included punctuation after both Roman and Arabic numerals to indicate their use in place of the full names of each number (e.g. LII. or 52. in place of "fifty-two" and "1/4." or "1./4." to indicate "one-fourth"). Both conventions have fallen out of common use in all dialects of English, except in places where an Arabic decimal includes

9797-449: Was little to no naming , conscious attention, or systematic analysis until relatively recent times. Like retronymy, it became much more common in the twentieth century than it had formerly been. Ancient examples of acronymy (before the term "acronym" was invented) include the following: During the mid- to late nineteenth century, acronyms became a trend among American and European businessmen: abbreviating corporation names, such as on

9898-513: Was reviewed by the European Commissioner for Competition . On 9 April 2009, the acquisition was officially completed. On 19 December 2008, BASF acquired U.S.-based Whitmire Micro-Gen together with U.K.-based Sorex Ltd. Sorex is a manufacturer of branded chemical and non-chemical products for professional pest management. In March 2007 Sorex was put up for sale with a price tag of about £100 million. In December 2010, BASF completed

9999-550: Was taken over by AkzoNobel in 1999. BASF bought the Engelhard Corporation for $ 4.8 billion in 2006. Other acquisitions in 2006, were the purchase of Johnson Polymer and the construction chemicals business of Degussa . The acquisition of Johnson Polymer was completed on 1 July 2006. The purchase price was $ 470 million on a cash and debt-free basis. It provided BASF with a range of water-based resins that complements its portfolio of high solids and UV resins for

10100-406: Was the biggest industrial accident in German history. Under the leadership of Carl Bosch , BASF founded IG Farben with Hoechst , Bayer , and three other companies, thus losing its independence. BASF was the nominal survivor, as all shares were exchanged for BASF shares before the merger. Rubber, fuels , and coatings were added to the range of products. In 1935, IG Farben and AEG presented

10201-452: Was valued at €63.7 billion in November 2018. In October 2019, BASF reported a drop of operating income for July to September amounting to 24 percent, along with a drop in EBIT earnings of €1.1 billion ($ 1.2 billion). The US–China trade war as well as uncertainties related to Brexit were identified as contributing factors. However, overall third quarter profit beat expectations as

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