FAQ (was Re: TIPS)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 7/7/06, Mark A. Mandel <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> 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/.

MWCD11 informs us that "AWOL" can be pronounced as two syllables or
six syllables. (The latter pronunciation is a syllable longer than the
unabbreviated form -- cf. Geoff Pullum's comments about "WWI" on Talk
of the Nation last week.)


--Ben Zimmer

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org