BBQ (1951)

[George Thompson]

Actually, I do pronounce BBQ as "beebeecue", while still also saying "barBQ" when I am thinking "barbeque".

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joanne M. Despres" <jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 9:50 am
Subject: Re: BBQ (1951)
> Not being a definer, I can't speak authoritatively about this, but if
> "BBQ" is pronounced like "barbecue," I would take that as
> confirmation that it's an abbreviation, not an acronym.  If it
> were an acronym (i.e., an intitialism that has achieved the status of an
> independent word, as opposed to an initialism that merely stands
> for a word), wouldn't you expect it to be pronounced something like
> "beebeecue"?  And wouldn't that pronunciation sometimes take
> inflections, as in  "summer beebeecues" or "I had beebeecued ribs
> on Saturday"?  I don't think such pronunciations are attested,
> though.
>
> Joanne
>
>
> Joanne M. Despres, Senior Editor
> Merriam-Webster, Inc.
> jdespres at merriam-webster.com
> http://www.merriam-webster.com
>