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 Post subject: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:55 am 
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But the Massachusetts senator, a lifelong free trader who had warmly embraced Nafta ... (NYT)<p>*How many papers follow the Times style of capitalizing only the initial letter of pronounceable acronyms? "Nafta" strikes me as strange. It looks like a brand name or corporate name.*


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 10:13 am 
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I'm hoping it's an aberration. What would be the value in lower-casing part of an acronym?


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:27 pm 
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It's stupid. Looks like something "Al" would've dreamed up.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:13 pm 
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And "Al" is an acronym for ....?


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:13 pm 
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The Times rule capitalizes only the first letter of acronyms longer than five letters: "Unesco, Unicef."


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:36 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by majorbabs:
I'm hoping it's an aberration. What would be the value in lower-casing part of an acronym?<hr></blockquote>
One newspaper I worked for formed the view that it gave a handy pronunciation guide in a rising flood of new government acronyms. Thus rendering the Independent Commission Against Corruption as the ICAC indicates a pronunciation of eye see eh see which the comission prefers, rendering as Icac would indicate a pronunciation of eye cack which the commission eschews for reasons those of you familiar with South African English might understand. The commission is almost always incorrectly referred to because it is the practice here to render all acronyms in caps. I think people get quickly used to what's been indicated as the Times' style even though it seems odd at first. Never had a snivel from a reader at the old paper I have to say.<p>[ March 03, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:10 pm 
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In many British newspapers that I've read, many acronyms that American papers (and it would seem based on Paul's comment, Australian papers) render in all caps are rendered upper-lower.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:51 pm 
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Should clarify, previous paper an NZ one. Australians are cap happy on these beasties.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:49 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
The Times rule capitalizes only the first letter of acronyms longer than five letters: "Unesco, Unicef."<hr></blockquote><p>Ditto The Wall Street Journal.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:01 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
The Times rule capitalizes only the first letter of acronyms longer than five letters: "Unesco, Unicef."<hr></blockquote><p>That still doesn't explain why NAFTA was "Nafta" in that story.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:30 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Tim Lawson:
<p>That still doesn't explain why NAFTA was "Nafta" in that story.<hr></blockquote> The version of the NYT stylebook I have says longer than four letters. Perhaps that's what Phil meant.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:42 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SusanV:
The version of the NYT stylebook I have says longer than four letters. Perhaps that's what Phil meant.<hr></blockquote><p>That's what I meant.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:38 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
The Times rule capitalizes only the first letter of acronyms longer than five letters: "Unesco, Unicef."<hr></blockquote><p>Do people think this is a good rule?


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:40 pm 
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No.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:40 pm 
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Nope.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:56 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SusanV:
The version of the NYT stylebook I have says longer than four letters. Perhaps that's what Phil meant.<hr></blockquote><p>So it's AIDS, but Nafta. Does the stylebook explain why they draw the line at four letters?


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:14 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
<p>Do people think this is a good rule?<hr></blockquote><p>No. What makes an acronym different from an ordinary word is that each letter stands for something (well, unless you're the United Nations). So each letter should be up.<p>[ March 04, 2004: Message edited by: Matthew Grieco ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:25 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
<p>So it's AIDS, but Nafta. Does the stylebook explain why they draw the line at four letters?<hr></blockquote> Mine doesn't. It's dated 1999, though, and I don't know if it's the most recent edition.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:32 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
<p>So it's AIDS, but Nafta. Does the stylebook explain why they draw the line at four letters?<hr></blockquote><p>Stylebooks generally do not explain.


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:05 am 
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I should elaborate on my “no.” I think it makes sense to de-cap long acronyms, because a long string of caps is distracting and hard to read, but the NYT threshold is one notch too low. <p>Nafta looks ridiculous. Nasdaq doesn’t. And I don’t recall many papers referring to the Patriot Act as the USA PATRIOT Act, even though it stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.<p>So we all have a threshold, don’t we? <p>AP style is:
Use only an initial cap and then lowercase for acronyms of more than six
letters, unless listed otherwise in this Stylebook or Webster's New World
College Dictionary.
<p>I think AP's threshold is one notch too high.
Unesco and Unicef look right without all caps, but maybe it's just because I see them that way often.<p>Five letters appears to be the most sensible cut-off, if there has to be a general rule, but case-by-case discretion is warranted. ... Nascar?<p>[ March 05, 2004: Message edited by: SeaRaven ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Acronym style
PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:01 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
<p>Do people think this is a good rule?<hr></blockquote><p>It's not a bad rule; I think the reasoning is that we try to avoid "speckling" the paper with UPPER CASE acronyms. The theory is that the reader's eye is distracted by the CAPS and makes for choppy looking prose in print. That I agree with. <p>The stylebook does note that unless pronounced as a word, an abbreviation is not an acronym. We have waffled -- to bring up a different thread -- on whether AFSCME is pronounced "Aff-smee" (which I favor), or is just seen as an abbreviation, hence A.F.S.C.M.E., which just looks like gobbledygook in print. <p>In general, we try to avoid abbreviations or acronyms after the first reference and go for something more digestible like "the agency" or "the department." Once you've said the full name, readers already know what you're talking about.<p>[ March 06, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]</p>


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