FAQ (was Re: TIPS)

[Charles Doyle]

I have heard "GIGO" pronounced both acronymically and initialistically.  The OED gives only one pronunciation, an acronymic one.  In fact, though, I have heard it pronounced variously as an acronym: /g/ vs. /j/, /ai/ vs. /i/.

Probably because we see the word and write it more often that we hear or speak it; orally, we're more likely to say the full proverb.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 13:20:47 -0400
>From: "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
>Subject: FAQ (was Re: TIPS)
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
>Do we have a term for expressions like this? That is, abbreviations formed from initial letters and observed in the wild with both types of pronunciation: acronymic and initialistic. The only other one I know of offhand is ASAP, which I have heard pronounced /'ey,saep/ as well as
/'ey'es'ey'piy/.

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