Re: "a SQL sever" vs "an SQL server"

[Art Campbell <art -dot- campbell -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I love word usage discussions on this list....

Uh, Guy, since you cite wikipedia as a definitive source, (which I
wouldn't, but that's neither here nor there), you no doubt noted that
it says "Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations .... " which
would, by the wiki/your definition, confirm that SQL is an
abbrebiation, although it's subtype is an initialism.

And the definition of "initialism" in Webster's, which I think of as
more authoritative, is simply an abbreviation made from the first
letters of the root words.

Neither the wikipedia nor Webster's says that an initialism differs
from the standard way any abbreviation is treated gramatically; it
doesn't merit special handling.

***
And while I agree with you that no one you know would subvocalize
"Structured Query Language server," the hills and dales that shelter
New England's tech enclaves positively echo with the phrase. It's even
a common topic in Parent-Teacher Association meetings from Agusta to
New Haven. Some tech writers even use it on first reference in manuals
to explain what the SQL abbreviation means, because some readers don't
know....

Cheers,
Art


On 9/22/05, Guy K. Haas <guy -at- hiskeyboard -dot- com> wrote:
>
> St. and Rd. are abbreviations.
>
> SQL is an initialism (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initialism).
>
> When I read that "Pat went to the PTA meeting," I don't pronounce it
> (mentally, let alone aloud) as "Pat went to the Parent Teacher
> Association meeting" -- I render it "Pat went to the Pee Tee Aye meeting."
>
> Nobody I know of would subvocalize about "a Structured Query Language
> server" -- they would either render it as "a see kwell server" or "a(n)
> ess kyu el server".

--
Art Campbell                                             art -dot- campbell -at- gmail -dot- com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
               and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                             No disclaimers apply.
                                     DoD 358

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