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What is your least favourite acronym? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 10 months ago by thatsTheCatch to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

566 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Mine is OOO for Out Of Office. I always misread it in my head like a ghost and it takes me a few seconds to process. It also doesn't translate to speech—you have to say the whole thing.

Interested to see if others have similar acronyms they beef with.

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[–] Wojwo@lemmy.ml 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Acronyms can be pronounced as words, like NASA and UNESCO; as individual letters, like CIA, TNT, NPC, BLM, and ATM; or as both letters and words, like JPEG (JAY-peg), CSIS (SEE-sis), and IUPAC (I-U-pak). Some are not universally pronounced one way or the other, and it depends on the speaker's preference or the context in which it is being used, such as SQL (either "see-kwel" or "ess-cue-el").

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Come on now. We know this is only because people usually don't know the difference, not because it's correct. Acronyms are pronounced as words, initialisms are spoken one letter at a time. Every article I've clicked says the same thing, confirming what I said. I'm doubling down. 😁

[–] Wojwo@lemmy.ml 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Eh, I know I'm supposed to fight my way up this hill and take it, but I'm just so damn tired. You're most correct. I acquiesce and stand in awe of your wisdom and grace.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

😄 Okay that's too generous lol. I know of certain things, but I know I'm dumb as shit about other stuff. ❤️

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

SQL

Nobody but me wants to adopt this, but I insist this should be "squeal".

[–] Wojwo@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

It's weird, when I say SQL I pronounce it sequel. But I pronounce MySQL as my-s-q-l. Never thought about squeal. Maybe that's for sqlite? Squealite