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Why is 'Elo' as in Elo rating system sometimes capitalised to 'ELO' when it's a last name and not an acronym? I notice people don't say GLICKO, for example.

Some (heavily downvoted) reddit posts:

  1. Stop capitalizing Elo
  2. PSA: "Elo" is named after the mathematician Arpad Elo, it is not an acronym and should not be capitalized, e. g. "ELO"

Other uses of ELO

  1. Chessboxing database: Eg David 'Northern Powerhouse' Jarmany

  2. Gotham chess (levy rozman) says here

'You'll benefit from the course if your ELO rating is at least 900' and 'This course is designed for players who know the fundamentals of chess. They have an ELO rating somewhere in range of 800-1500.'

Edit: I am asking why people do things in a certain way. why opinion based? sounds pretty factual to me: I'm not asking what should be the case. I'm asking why certain things are the way they are.

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    Ignorance and apathy. A sign of our diminished times. There's a lot worse going on.
    – bof
    Nov 6, 2021 at 4:31
  • @bof sad yet funny. thanks.
    – BCLC
    Nov 6, 2021 at 5:08
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    In a similar way, some bridge players capitalise ACOL as if it's an acronym. In fact the Acol bidding system is named after the Acol Bridge Club, which was originally located on Acol Road in London, which is named after the village of Acol in Kent. Nov 6, 2021 at 11:18

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People simply don't recognize Elo as being a last name; it's Hungarian, which is completely unrelated to English. People do recognize ELO as a rock band so it's not strange to think of it as an abbreviation, especially since some kind of chess ratings (FIDE rating, USCF rating) are capitalized. I guess this happens with many three and four letter words, so that explains why you never see GLICKO. That is just more recognizable as a proper name.

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  • ' it's not strange to think of it as an abbreviation, especially since some kind of chess ratings (FIDE rating, USCF rating) are capitalized.' --> EXACTLy thanksGlorfindel♦ !
    – BCLC
    Nov 6, 2021 at 14:27

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