TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: How would you....? From:Arthur Comings <atc -at- CORTE-MADERA -dot- GEOQUEST -dot- SLB -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 21 Jun 1994 13:56:22 PDT
> Lately, our developers have been arguing about which article should be used
> with the acronym SQL. Because many (most?) people pronounce SQL as "sequel,"
> they have taken to proclaiming the following sentence as very bad grammar:
> The figure below shows an SQL query.
> I say that "an" is the proper article when writing the sentence, even though
> I would use "a" if I spoke the same sentence.
> Any other opinions?
> ------------
> glen accardo glen -at- softint -dot- com
> Software Interfaces, Inc. (713) 492-0707
> Houston, TX 77084
We had to face this recently. If, as you note, many (most?) people
pronounce SQL as "sequel," I assume that they're going to pronounce it
in their heads the same way when they read it. So we settled on "a SQL
query."
IMHO, written English must take careful account of how the language is
actually spoken. Any kind of "by the book" correctness that ignores
common speech patterns is risking slowing down the reader.
Hope that helps.
Arthur Comings
GeoQuest
Corte Madera, California
atc -at- corte-madera -dot- geoquest -dot- slb -dot- com