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  • Re: AKICIF: British Capitalization of Acronyms for Organizations

    From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Evelyn C. Leeper on Wed Jun 18 05:27:45 2025
    On 6/17/25 8:47 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    (Or "British Capitalisation of Acronyms for Organisations", if you prefer)

    The Guardian and the BBC seem to write the abbreviation for "Immigration
    and Customs Enforcement" as "Ice", rather than the "ICE" used in the US.
     But they abbreviate "United States" as "US", not "Us".

    What's the rule here?  Is "North American Treaty Organization" written
    as "Nato"?


    I don't know if it's a rule, but I've seen other instances. British publications tend to refer to the World Health Organization as "The
    Who," which makes me think it's a music group.

    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

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  • From Bernard Peek@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Wed Jun 18 18:59:58 2025
    On 2025-06-18, Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:
    On 6/17/25 8:47 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    (Or "British Capitalisation of Acronyms for Organisations", if you prefer) >>
    The Guardian and the BBC seem to write the abbreviation for "Immigration
    and Customs Enforcement" as "Ice", rather than the "ICE" used in the US.
     But they abbreviate "United States" as "US", not "Us".

    What's the rule here?  Is "North American Treaty Organization" written
    as "Nato"?


    I don't know if it's a rule, but I've seen other instances. British publications tend to refer to the World Health Organization as "The
    Who," which makes me think it's a music group.

    There are no universally accepted standards.

    I was taught that if the abbreviation is usually pronounced as a word then
    only the first letter is capitalised as it is a proper-noun, but NATO is pronounced but is usually in all caps. WHO would be pronouncable but is invariably spoken as three separate words.

    We have a getout clause though. English spelling, grammar and punctuation
    rules are descriptive and not prescriptive despite what we are taught at school.


    --
    Bernard Peek
    bap@shrdlu.com
    Wigan

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  • From Dorothy J Heydt@21:1/5 to bap@shrdlu.com on Wed Jun 18 20:30:50 2025
    In article <mbggleFavh1U2@mid.individual.net>,
    Bernard Peek <bap@shrdlu.com> wrote:
    On 2025-06-18, Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:
    On 6/17/25 8:47 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    (Or "British Capitalisation of Acronyms for Organisations", if you prefer) >>>
    The Guardian and the BBC seem to write the abbreviation for "Immigration >>> and Customs Enforcement" as "Ice", rather than the "ICE" used in the US. >>>  But they abbreviate "United States" as "US", not "Us".

    What's the rule here?  Is "North American Treaty Organization" written
    as "Nato"?


    I don't know if it's a rule, but I've seen other instances. British
    publications tend to refer to the World Health Organization as "The
    Who," which makes me think it's a music group.

    There are no universally accepted standards.

    I was taught that if the abbreviation is usually pronounced as a word then >only the first letter is capitalised as it is a proper-noun, but NATO is >pronounced but is usually in all caps. WHO would be pronouncable but is >invariably spoken as three separate words.

    We have a getout clause though. English spelling, grammar and punctuation >rules are descriptive and not prescriptive despite what we are taught at >school.

    [Hal Heydt]
    There is a usage between northern and southern California... In
    southern California highway designation are given with a
    preceding definite article (the I-5), whereas in northern
    California, the article is not included. You can tell when a
    traffic reporter move north from L.A. because they'll include the
    article.

    One thing I've noticed in watching some video reports from the
    war in Ukraine is that a British commentator (from the accent)
    pronounces the Russian aircraft company designator as a word
    (e.g. Su-25 as Sue 25 or Tu-95 as Too 95), where other dialects
    read them off as letters (such as Ess You 25 or Tee You 95). This
    got mildly confusing in the reports about Ukraine's strikes on
    Russian air bases when he referred to damage to a "Two
    Twenty-two" (Tu-22). Makes me wonder what he'd call an Me-262
    or Bf-109. Or even an Fi-103, if he knew what that was.

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