• cm0002@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    Irrelevant, acronyms and initialisms don’t depend on the underlying words they stand for beyond the first letter of each word. You can’t use the word underlying C or any of the other letters for grammatical justification or pronunciation.

    Each letter must stand on its own and be governed by pronunciation rules independently of its underlying word, if it cannot form a sensible pronounceable word (Like FBI, CIA, SQL, SCSI) on its own it’s an initialism. If it can (Like NASA) then it’s an acronym.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Nah, there are no such rules, like anything else, initialisms are defined by speakers of the language, and that’s what industry professionals seem to use most often.

      • cm0002@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        what industry professionals seem to use most often.

        Lol ok, if you want to change to that set of rules, I am an industry professional. Fairly deep into my IT career, and I will absolutely get on to any of my people if I see “Scuzzy” (Not that that particular one will ever come up again, fairly out of date lmao) or “Sequel” or any of that other bull

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          Maybe it’s a regional thing, or maybe you’re just a hothead, hard to tell.

          Either way, in my region, “scuzzy” and “sequel” are the dominant pronunciations for SCSI and SQL in my field.