There really can't be a bright line based on whether an acronym is
pronouncable, because different people come to different conclusions about
whether and how to pronounce different acronyms. Three cases in point from
the computer world:
Digital Equipment Corp. has a logo than uses the initial letters of its name.
They seem to want to be known as "Digital" but much of the computing world
calls them "DEC" (pronounced "deck").
Nippon Electric Co. is happy to be known as NEC. They expect people to
pronounce it "En, Ee, Cee," but many people (perhaps influenced by DEC) say
"Neck." This caused some confusion when they ran a print ad campaign with
the slogan "NEC, for you and me" [or something like that]. I could never
figure out why they thought that "neck" and "me" were rhyming words!!!
Finally, Web users are familiar with the acronym HTML. I first thought that
this was unpronouncable, but the need to shortcuts is the mother-in-law of
invention and I have been told that it is pronounced "hot metal." [Kind of a
nice irony, when you think of it: HTML is a cyber-descendant of the original
"hot metal" (linotype).]
Greg Koster
CUNY Law School
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