Is there some hidden pronounciation rule I’m not aware of? And why do we say F.B.I and not FBI or U.S.B and not USB ?
I know it seems a really silly question seeing the actual situation with the ICE eveywhere on the news… But this really bothers me on why people yell ICE when it’s actually the I.C.E :/.
NASA, NATO, Radar, Sonar, Laser, Scuba, AIDS, PIN, SWAT, YOLO, CAD
The rule genuinely is “if it can be said as a word, it might be said as a word”.
They’re called acronyms.
BBC, TV, USSR etc. can’t easily be said as a word - these are just
initialisationsinitialisms.Okay I get that ! But in the case of the ICE both are actually acceptable.
I.C.E sounds good so those ICE. I guess in this context as some else said, it’s because they are “ice cold” (in this context).
Would it be acceptable in a conversation to talk about the I.C.E ?
I.C.E.s are trains in Germany. ICE are assholes in the US. Hope that helps.
The word you are looking for is not “initialisation,” but “initialism.”
Good catch! You are 100% correct.
I’ll update the message, but strikethrough the original so this still makes sense.
Thanks! I’m glad I could help.
As far as I’m aware, the rule is “if it can easily be pronounced, it should be pronounced. If it can’t, fall back to spelling it.” For example, if it was the Federal Investigation Bureau, we would probably call it the Fib, barring some major marketing campaign to prevent that.
They get called the feebs by some folks
Acronyms vs Initialisms
No one is going to try pronounce Fbi, it’s awkward.
There are terms that bridge the Acronym/Initialism divide. SQL-Sequel, URL-Earl and GUI-Gooey are some that come up fairly regularly in my line of work.
The bottom line is; Language is used to communicate concepts. We are lazy and do it as efficiently as we can get away with. The rules have changed a LOT to get us where we are today. It would be blind hubris to think the change will stop just because we don’t like it.
Funny enough… I do say S.Q.L or U.R.L 😅
SQL, back in 2015, officially transitioned from being pronounced Sequel to being pronounced EssQueueEll.
I still call it Sequel.
Then again, I say U R L, but also pronounce URI as Yuri. I also say L O L instead of Loll and I R L instead of Earl.
And then there’s mixed acronyms like Jaypeg and Empeg.
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On the W.W.W or Www?
Yup, those are contested
Squirrel and Earl
I’ve been in IT for over 30 years and never once heard someone try to make an acronym of URL.
Never heard someone say earl for URL and I would not understand if someone did. That’s like if i pronounced FBI freebie
FBI and USB aren’t words, ICE is.
POTUS isn’t actually a word, but it’s often pronounced that way.
The Depot of Transportation is often reduced to DOT.
ICE=Immigration and Customs Enforcement
FBI=Federal Bureau of Investigation
USB=Universal Serial Bus
None of those are words :/ but an acronym.
Perhaps you should read twice before you try to correct someone.
Did you know that acronyms are types of words?
And many modern words are elisions and concatenations of words we no longer use.
Where do you stand on OK, where it’s actually a word, or laser and modem which are nouns with specific meanings even though they were derived originally?
What about coke instead of coca cola, cocaine and compressed coal?
Yeah but modem is different. It’s a contraction of 2 words (modulation/demodulation) that’s not the same as an acronym.
I do say FBI, though: pronounced like “Phoebe”
But nobody likes it when I do.
ICE is actually pronounced “shitfuck”
You misspelled SS.
If an acronym is convenient, it will overrule an initialism.
You seem to be insisting on avoiding the acronym that is right there, and I’m not sure why.
Cuz this is OOSAH (USA), this is just how OOSIANS (USA-ians) talk.
I’ma chargin’ ma ell ay zed ee arr!
