Periods in Abbreviations or Not?

We usually leave out periods in abbreviations, especially the common abbreviations, and ones we pronounce as words (NASA, for example) but the rule is:

Use periods in an abbreviation to remove ambiguity.

Here’s a good example of a cartoonist using that rule to make his point.

Remember, I use comics to illustrate grammar. As always, ignore the politics.

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English is mostly uninflected (it doesn’t have many word endings) so word order makes a difference. Here’s a good example; first two panels:

Greek, for example, is heavily inflected, so word order doesn’t matter so much. The endings tell what words connect to each other. In fact they have a literary technique called chiasmus where the first half of a sentence has the parts of speech in the exact opposite order as the second half. You can’t do that in English. I don’t think. Try to do it and submit your suggestion in the comments.

With an example! The word is “mansplain.” You have probably already figured out pretty well what “mansplain” means, but here’s a definition in writing:

But it’s not “Oxford’s Dictionary,” it’s the Oxford English Dictionary.

In this case, a separable verb, pin down. It’s at the bottom.

I think that’s how you do it, anyway. How would you do it?

I never had the problem described in the first panel, but the definitions in the remaining panels are pretty good.

‘nuf said.

Actually, I usually see only one comparison in analogies and similes.