I do believe SQL is not an acronym, but an initialism, precisely when it's spoken as you say it: initials rather than a word. It's when the string of letters is

I do believe SQL is not an acronym, but an initialism, precisely when it's spoken as you say it: initials rather than a word. It's when the string of letters is pronounced as a word that "acronym" is accurate. So SQL is either, and thus both... But yeah, the filling in is odd unless, as in the case of ctl/ctrl, knowledge of the original guides us into lossless compression.