NATO, WMO, UN, etc

[Rachel Adams]

Do you pronounce "etc" "UN", "NATO", "WMO" which is world meteorological organisation by letters, as a whole word or each word separately?

 

[Rover_KE]

Of those three, only NATO is read as a word.

 

[GoesStation]

Do you pronounce "etc" "UN", "NATO", "WMO" which is world meteorological organisation by letters, as a whole word or each word separately?

Et cetera
You enn
Nay-toe
Double-you emm oh

 

[5jj]

I'd say et cetera in full.
I'd use either letters or the complete words for the UN.
I'd say only Nato as a word.
As I have never spoken of the WMO, I don't know what I'd say.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Et cetera
You enn
Nay-toe
Double-you emm oh

Unlike "eg" "etc" isn't read as letters as "i" "ti" "si", is it? Is reading them as "North Atlantic Treaty organisation", "world meteorological organisation", "United Nations" too long unnecessary but correct?

 

[5jj]

Unlike "eg" "etc" isn't read as letters as "i" "ti" "si", is it?

No.

Is reading them as "North Atlantic Treaty Organisation", "World Meteorological Organisation", "United Nations" too long/unnecessary but correct?

It's personal choice.

 

[Rachel Adams]

No.

Is reading them as "North Atlantic Treaty Organisation", "World Meteorological Organisation", "United Nations" too long/unnecessary but correct?

It's personal choice.

Sorry, do you mean no it's not pronounced as "i" "ti" "si"?

I never heard NATO pronounced as "en" "ei" "ti" "o" in TV programs. Only as GoesStation suggested.

 

[5jj]

Sorry, do you mean no it's not pronounced as "i" "ti" "si"?

I do

I never heard NATO pronounced as "en" "ei" "ti" "o" in TV programs. Only as GoesStation suggested.

Neither have I.
So did I.

 

[GoesStation]

Pronunciation of abbreviations is idiosyncratic. We tend to pronounce them as words when they lend themselves easily to that, as in NATO, NASA, UNICEF, etc. We don't do that for the WHO, possibly to avoid confusing it with the rock band.

Be grateful that we don't follow the impenetrable French practice of using native-language pronunciation for some initialisms but not for others. I've never been able to learn why it's le eff-bi-aille but la ses-i-a (French pronunciation).

 

[probus]

Maybe it's le eff-bi-aille only on le weekend. :-D As any Frenchman will be happy to inform you, the French are the world's most logical people. Therefore they tend to look down on frivolous, flightly, unpredictable people like the English.

 

[Glizdka]

Not a teacher
------

In the film Idiocracy, the narrator of the Time Masheen pronounces UN /ʌn/.

It's intentional to make fun of how stupid people are in a future where everyone's an idiot.

 

[Tdol]

Pronunciation of abbreviations is idiosyncratic. We tend to pronounce them as words when they lend themselves easily to that, as in NATO, NASA, UNICEF, etc. We don't do that for the WHO, possibly to avoid confusing it with the rock band.

I think that longer ones get pronounced as words if possible to save time.

 

[emsr2d2]

An abbreviation is a truncated word; an acronym is made up of parts of the phrase it stands for and is pronounced as a word (ELISA, AIDS, GABA); an initialism is an acronym that is pronounced as individual letters (DNA, RT-PCR).

Source: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/page/abbreviations-acronyms-initialisms

 

[Yankee]

Unlike "eg" "etc" isn't read as letters as "i" "ti" "si", is it? No. Is reading them as "North Atlantic Treaty Organisation", "World Meteorological Organisation", "United Nations" too long unnecessary but correct? Yes.

Y.

 

[Yankee]

I'd say et cetera in full.
I'd use either letters or the complete words for the UN.
I'd say only Nato as a word.
As I have never spoken of the WMO, I don't know what I'd say.

Me either, but how about "Whum Oh"?:-D

 

[emsr2d2]

Me either, but how about "Whum Oh"?:-D

For the benefit of learners, that would be "Me neither" in BrE.

Whum Oh sounds like some kind of fluffy spread for bread! ;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Maybe it's le eff-bi-aille only on le weekend. :-D As any Frenchman will be happy to inform you, the French are the world's most logical people. Therefore they tend to look down on frivolous, flightly, unpredictable people like the English.

Don't we all!

 

[GoesStation]

For the benefit of learners, that would be "Me neither" in BrE.

And in standard American English. Many native speakers say me either, but learners should not.

 

[Tdol]

IRA, UDA, PLO were all said letter by letter, but ISIS was a pronounced as a word. There seems to be no grammatical explanation for this except length or a political view.

 

[emsr2d2]

I always thought that the simple explanation was that if it can be pronounced like a reasonably identifiable existing word, it is.