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Shyam Mani wrote: |
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> Curtis Napier wrote: |
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> |
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> |
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>>Yes indeed, ciaran is correct. You go by the "sound" not by the |
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>>spelling. That's why we say "an honor" instead of "a honor" (the h is |
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>>silent). But in the case of FAQ he is incorrect because it's pronounced |
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>>fa-ack not ef-ack. Silly en_GB speakers. :-) |
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> |
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> |
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> Ummm, we pronounce it af eff a que. Not Fak. It is an acronym and eff a |
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> que is how you say it :) So, he's right and it is an FAQ. |
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> |
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> |
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>>http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#36 |
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> |
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> |
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> And from the above site... |
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> |
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> According to The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, "The |
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> indefinite article a is used before words beginning with a consonant |
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> sound, including /y/ and /w/ sounds. The other form, an, is used before |
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> words beginning with a vowel sound. Hence, a European country, a Ouija |
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> board, a uniform, an FBI agent... |
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> |
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> We say Eff Bee Eye agent, not Fubby agent or EffBee or EffBye, right? So |
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> it's Eff A Que :) not fack or you know where I'm going :p |
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> |
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No, when you use the first letters of a series of words that is going to |
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be pronounced as a series of letters like F.B.I then that is an |
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abbreviation or an initialism. An acronym is the first letters of a |
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series of words put together to form a new word. FAQ is an acronym not |
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an abbreviation so it is pronounced as a word not as the letters F.A.Q.. |
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If it was supposed to be pronounced as a series of letters it would be |
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written F.A.Q. but it isn't. |
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|
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http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9354382?query=acronym&ct= |
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http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=acronym&x=0&y=0 |
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http://www.answers.com/topic/acronym |
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http://www.thefreedictionary.com/acronym |
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http://www.answers.com/acronym&r=67 |
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This is silly. Just leave it up to the person who writes the doc. What |
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difference does it make to any of us? Rane already changed it and |
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changing it back would be redundant. |
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-- |
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