3 ms·

NASA is an acronym, yet most British publications stylize it as a word - Nasa.

• mitchty 13y ago
  They seem to do that when its pronounced versus spelled I've noticed. aka: NASA = Nasa BBC = b b c I could be wrong though so whatever.
  • ForHackernews 13y ago
    That's what makes it an acronym. Technically, an "acronym" is an abbreviation that can be pronounced as a word (e.g. Radar, Nasa). In contrast, things like BBC or FBI are "initialisms" but not acronyms.
    • mitchty 13y ago
      That explains it, but I thought NASA was originally spelled out as well. Take for example the world wide web and the early 2000's and people constantly trying to make www dub dub dub. I think the only thing stopping the BBC getting in the same boat is lack of vowels.
• dragonwriter 13y ago
  Actually, no, many (esp. British) publications style acronyms in initial-caps rather than all-caps, its not styling "Nasa" as a word (i.e., "Nasa" is not styled differently from how other acronyms are styled in those same publications.) What may mislead some people as to what is going on is that the publications that style acronyms this way still style initialisms in all caps, and many people don't note the difference between acronyms and initialisms (and, particularly, may be more familiar with publications that style both acronyms and initialisms in all caps.) See, e.g., "Abbreviations and acronyms" in the Guardian and Observer style guide [1]. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a