Re: [gentoo-doc] Re: cvs commit: quick-samba-howto.xml

[Curtis Napier <curtis119@gentoo.org>]

Shyam Mani wrote:
> Curtis Napier wrote:
> 
> 
>>Yes indeed, ciaran is correct. You go by the "sound" not by the
>>spelling. That's why we say "an honor" instead of "a honor" (the h is
>>silent). But in the case of FAQ he is incorrect because it's pronounced
>>fa-ack not ef-ack. Silly en_GB speakers. :-)
> 
> 
> Ummm, we pronounce it af eff a que. Not Fak. It is an acronym and eff a
> que is how you say it :) So, he's right and it is an FAQ.
> 
> 
>>http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#36
> 
> 
> And from the above site...
> 
> According to The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, "The
> indefinite article a is used before words beginning with a consonant
> sound, including /y/ and /w/ sounds. The other form, an, is used before
> words beginning with a vowel sound. Hence, a European country, a Ouija
> board, a uniform, an FBI agent...
> 
> We say Eff Bee Eye agent, not Fubby agent or EffBee or EffBye, right? So
> it's Eff A Que :) not fack or you know where I'm going :p
> 

No, when you use the first letters of a series of words that is going to 
be pronounced as a series of letters like F.B.I then that is an 
abbreviation or an initialism. An acronym is the first letters of a 
series of words put together to form a new word. FAQ is an acronym not 
an abbreviation so it is pronounced as a word not as the letters F.A.Q.. 
If it was supposed to be pronounced as a series of letters it would be 
written F.A.Q. but it isn't.

http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9354382?query=acronym&ct=
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=acronym&x=0&y=0
http://www.answers.com/topic/acronym
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/acronym
http://www.answers.com/acronym&r=67

This is silly. Just leave it up to the person who writes the doc. What 
difference does it make to any of us? Rane already changed it and 
changing it back would be redundant.
-- 
gentoo-doc@gentoo.org mailing list