The English and the Americans wanted “International Standards Coordinating Association.” But we fought against the word “coordinating.” It was too limited.
The first question that had to be settled in London was that of the name of the new organization.
It’s in the first full paragraph of page 20: Extracts of his interview were published in the ISO publication: Friendship Among Equals: Recollections from ISO’s first fifty years. Basically, Kuert calls hogwash on the Greek root word story, claiming instead that the abbreviation was chosen because it was short and appealed to all of the attendees. In fact, at the time of publication, Kuert was the only survivor of the London meetings. His recollections are the only publicly available accounts of the meetings in London in 1946. He was interviewed at some point between 19 about the founding of the organization. Willy Kuert was one of the founders of ISO. Instead of picking IOS, OIN, or MOC, they went with something that didn’t put any one of the three official languages to the fore. I’d suggest that the organization did in fact select an out-of-order initialism to represent the different potential acronyms and initialisms. Sure, they can call themselves whatever they want, but this origin story seems fishy. I think we need to look deeper. Why select a Greek root word and then mispronounce it? So, I’m a little suspicious of this pronunciation. The Greek word is pronounced ae-soh-s or ee-soh-s. At least that’s what the cool kids have been telling me. Hence, the claim that ISO is pronounced eye-soh as an acronym (as a word), not spelled out as an initialism.
Whatever the country, whatever the language, we are always ISO. ISO is derived from the Greek isos, meaning equal. According to the Organization, the abbreviation ISO is reportedly derived from the Greek word isos, which translates roughly into equal (in English):īecause 'International Organization for Standardization' would have different acronyms in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), our founders decided to give it the short form ISO. The organization further explains that because no single acronym or initialism would work in all three languages, they instead settled on ISO as an abbreviation. In examining their own history, the Organization notes that if they were to use an acronym or an initialism as an abbreviation, they would be stuck with three different versions: IOS in English, OIN in French, and MOC in Russian. Politically expedient at the end of World War II perhaps, but not efficient for sorting out nomenclature. In English, the Organization is known as International Organization for Standardization in French, Organisation internationale de normalisation and, in Russian, Международная организация по стандартизации (Mezhdunarodnaya organizatsiya po standartizatsii). The founders decided to use three official languages: English, French, and Russian. The International Organization for Standardization was founded in London in 1946.
ISO says that the abbreviation and its pronunciation are based on the Greek root word for equal: isos. I believe that this is a little bit of revisionism - doublespeak, if you will. ISO goes on to explain that you pronounce the abbreviation as a word: eye-soh. Eye-es-oh or eye-soh? Not as simple as you think! Tip: Don't believe everything you read on the internet.Īccording to the International Organization for Standardization, the abbreviation for their name is ISO.