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NASA, NATO, Radar, Sonar, Laser, Scuba, AIDS, PIN, SWAT, YOLO, CAD
The rule genuinely is "if it can be said as a word, it might be said as a word".
They're called acronyms.
BBC, TV, USSR etc. can't easily be said as a word - these are just initialisations.
If an acronym is convenient, it will overrule an initialism.
You seem to be insisting on avoiding the acronym that is right there, and I'm not sure why.
I do say FBI, though: pronounced like "Phoebe"
But nobody likes it when I do.
As far as I'm aware, the rule is "if it can easily be pronounced, it should be pronounced. If it can't, fall back to spelling it." For example, if it was the Federal Investigation Bureau, we would probably call it the Fib, barring some major marketing campaign to prevent that.
If someone told me this is specifically why it isn't called that, I'd believe it.
They get called the feebs by some folks
Acronyms vs Initialisms
No one is going to try pronounce Fbi, it’s awkward.
There are terms that bridge the Acronym/Initialism divide. SQL-Sequel, URL-Earl and GUI-Gooey are some that come up fairly regularly in my line of work.
The bottom line is; Language is used to communicate concepts. We are lazy and do it as efficiently as we can get away with. The rules have changed a LOT to get us where we are today. It would be blind hubris to think the change will stop just because we don’t like it.
Never heard someone say earl for URL and I would not understand if someone did. That's like if i pronounced FBI freebie
I've been in IT for over 30 years and never once heard someone try to make an acronym of URL.
Funny enough... I do say S.Q.L or U.R.L 😅
Squirrel and Earl
Me too. And I say them on the World Wide Web, which is quicker to say than the WWW.
Dub Dub Dub
That never really caught on though.
On the W.W.W or Www?
SQL, back in 2015, officially transitioned from being pronounced Sequel to being pronounced EssQueueEll.
I still call it Sequel.
Then again, I say U R L, but also pronounce URI as Yuri. I also say L O L instead of Loll and I R L instead of Earl.
And then there’s mixed acronyms like Jaypeg and Empeg.
Yup, those are contested
FBI and USB aren't words, ICE is.
POTUS isn't actually a word, but it's often pronounced that way.
The Depot of Transportation is often reduced to DOT.
Because it is a word, or it's easier to say, or funnier.
It's definitely not the only case. NATO comes to mind, or GOAT, NIMBY. Yesterday I heard someone say (in a tv series episode) 'fudney' for FDNY
What it 'actually' is does not matter.
It's ICE, as in: cold as
ICE is actually pronounced "shitfuck"
You misspelled SS.
What about NASA?
N.A.S.A.? What about it? /s
Maybe this is some sarcasme... But why then follow rules if we can just say things how we prefer? GIF or JIF?
Because rules of language are not laws and are under no obligation to be consistent and/or make sense.
Er, aren’t you disproving your own point there?
There’s two ways GIF can be pronounced, so we use both.
Beats having to say “Graphical Interchange Format” or spelling it out every time we want to communicate with someone.
The goal is to condense meaning as much as possible without losing the original context.
Although with some acronyms, it actually takes longer to pronounce the acronym than spell it out, and we still pronounce it because of vocal flow (easier for the mouth to string those shapes together).
Not disproving, just making context on how confusing it can be if there isn't proper rules to follow :/
Welcome to the English language, where there are two sets of rules to follow (Germanic and Latin) and social linguistic development often eschews both.
Cuz this is OOSAH (USA), this is just how OOSIANS (USA-ians) talk.
I'ma chargin' ma ell ay zed ee arr!