# British style on acronyms **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235 "2008-11-18T03:11:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/21 "2008-11-19T15:52:33Z")
The Guardian. A take on the paper’s reputation as being filled with spelling errors. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/22 "2008-11-19T15:55:20Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > The Guardian. A take on the paper’s reputation as being filled with spelling errors. Ah. Okay. I knew it was referring to The Guardian, but I thought maybe “Grauniad” meant something in particular and I just hadn’t come across the word before. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/23 "2008-11-19T15:59:59Z")
It’s hard to say whether the British style would make this [headline](http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles/a213_n8.jpg) more or less confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/24 "2008-11-19T16:37:46Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > It starts with an /r/ and rhymes with “Nazi”. I suppose you could say that’s just pronouncing the first syllable “as a word” and spelling out the last letter… but anyway, that’s how it’s done. ‘Rot-see’ rhymes with ‘Nazi’? Maybe it’s dialect differences, but I pronounce ‘Nazi’ to rhyme with ‘cat-see’, not ‘bought-see’. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/25 "2008-11-19T19:55:29Z")
As another reference point the the Oxford Guide to Style (from he OUP - all upper case, not pronounced as a word 😃 ) says: > [@](#): > > Any all-capital proper-name acronym is, in some house styles, fashioned with a single initial capital if it exceeds four leters (_Basic_, _Unesco_, _Unicef_). Editors should avoid this rule, useful though it is, where the result runs against the common practice of a discipline (_CARPE_, _SSHRCC_, _WYSIWYG_), or where similar terms would be treated dissimilarly based on length alone. Make of that what you will! > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **FRDE** : > \*A few days I cooked up a semi-explanation using ‘Nazi’ versus ‘NSDAP’, where pronunciation had diverged from spelling. \* Surely Nazi is an acronym just from \*Nationalsozialist \* - not from NSDAP the abbreviation for the political party? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/26 "2008-11-19T20:00:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > ‘Rot-see’ rhymes with ‘Nazi’? Maybe it’s dialect differences, but I pronounce ‘Nazi’ to rhyme with ‘cat-see’, not ‘bought-see’. Rhymes in my dialect. NAH-tsee, RAH-tsee. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/27 "2008-11-19T20:06:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Rhymes in my dialect. NAH-tsee, RAH-tsee. “Nazi, Schmazi!” says Werner von Braun… -Tom Lehrer ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/28 "2008-11-19T20:09:41Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > ‘Rot-see’ rhymes with ‘Nazi’? Maybe it’s dialect differences, but I pronounce ‘Nazi’ to rhyme with ‘cat-see’, not ‘bought-see’. I think of that (your way) as the older (or older, British) way of doing it. I am not sure which is closer to how a German would pronounce the first two syllables of “Nazional.” I kind of think it would be the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/29 "2008-11-19T20:53:21Z")
Here in the US, 99% of speakers will pronounce Nazi as “Not-zee” I’ve met ONE man, Dr. Conklin at the old sociology department, who pronounced it “Nat-zee”. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235/30 "2008-11-19T23:28:49Z")
Here it would be nart-see. Scarcely anyone would follow Churchill’s “narrzee”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-on-acronyms/473235.md?page=1)