NATO, WMO, UN, etc

[jutfrank]

Yes, I think that if there is a rule to be had, it's that we tend to try to make words where we can. I don't think these have to be existing words, though. In fact, I'd say it's much better if they aren't. I have heard several speakers refer to the World Health Organisation as the 'who', but as GS notes, that can cause intelligibility issues because it already exists as a word (and the name of a rock band). I think NASA is a good example of a unique word that's very easy to say.

As for other languages, the Spanish call the IRA 'ira' (pronounced a bit like the English word 'era') after the English initialism (it's ERI in Spanish), and the ETA 'etta' after the Basque. I've always thought that the reason we too say 'etta' as opposed to 'eeta', which I think is how the initialism would naturally be pronounced, is that we follow Basque/Spanish, and by extension global, custom. Similarly with FARC (fark)—in English translation we'd have RAFC (rafk), which isn't really pronounceable as a word. The two variants of the disease AIDS ('aids' in English) and SIDA ('seeda' in Spanish) are a notable exception that often causes intelligibility issues, as is the way we pronounce the organisation NATO, pronounced 'otan' in Spanish.

 

[Rachel Adams]

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

Is it unnecessary to pronounce acronyms and initialisms completely just like abbreviations? I mean instead of saying North Atlantic Treaty Organization, native speakers say NATO. Would it be unnecessary to pronounce each word in DNA and AIDS?

 

[emsr2d2]

As long as you're confident that your listener knows what those acronyms mean, then it is completely unnecessary to say the words in full. I would venture to suggest that a lot of native speakers wouldn't actually be able to tell you what the words even are in the three you quoted!

 

[Rachel Adams]

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).

Is the rock band pronounced as /hu:/?

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, yes, but they're called "The Who" - two words and not capitalised. It's not an acronym at all!

 

[Tdol]

Yes, I think that if there is a rule to be had, it's that we tend to try to make words where we can.

Imagine not doing that with UNESCO- UNFPA is a killer.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The only rule is that the people within the organization decide how their acronym should be pronounced. So IBM is eye-bee-EM, but AFSCME is AFSK-mee.

 

[Skrej]

Is the rock band pronounced as /hu:/?

Not to be confused with The Hu. Heavy metal meets Mongolian folk with Tuvan throat singing. Talk about intense, and unique!

If you're not already familiar with them, some other good songs from them are Wolf Totem and Yuve Yuve Yu.

 

[Tdol]

The only rule is that the people within the organization decide how their acronym should be pronounced.

I particularly like the American Association Against Acronym Abuse- things like this make the internet worthwhile.
.

 

[5jj]

Re: crime witness

ARELS, the Association of Recognised English Language Schools (apparently no longer in existence,) was originally going to be called the Association of Recognised Schools of English until somebody suggested this was probably not a good idea.

 

[GoesStation]

I've probably mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. I'm a proud member of DAM — Mothers Against Dyslexia.

 

[Skrej]

For a while, Friends University (a private Christian college started by Quakers) was officially unofficially known as Friends University of Central Kansas, until somebody worked out the initials.

As a result, the college decided to officially be known as just 'Friends University'. Of course, that's still a big eff you if abbreviated, so they prefer to just be known simply as "Friends".

The story (apocryphal) goes that the administration, being good naive Christians, didn't realize the longer name until a redesign of their logo and some new letterheads were delivered to the president's desk. Another version of the legend has it that some acceptance letters were actually sent out with the new letterhead welcoming incoming freshman to F**K . Supposedly new enrollments increased ten-fold, but half the current student body's parents forced their kids to withdraw over the kerfuffle.

 

[Glizdka]

This reminds me of the show Penn & Teller Fool Us. If you manage to present a trick the expert duo can't figure out, you get a trophy that says "Fool Us", with disproportionally large capitals FU.

 

[Tdol]

Re: crime witness

until somebody suggested this was probably not a good idea.

Not me, guv- sounds like a great name to me.

 

[Tdol]

Re: crime witness

A GNTM.