NORAD is an excellent example of there being a standard -- we don't say "en-oh-are-ay-dee", after all, we simply say "norad".
Some of those are regional, I'm sure, like UGA (University of Georgia) getting the nickname of "Ugga" rather than "you-gee-ay". And I can't think of the example right now, but I know at least two or three common acronyms have one group that insists it's spelled-out, and another that speaks it -- hrm, I seem to recall SAC (Strategic Air Command) may have gotten that, with some AF folks calling it "sack" and others saying "ess-ay-see".
Netspeak isn't honestly that much worse than military-speak (although laborious to read by dint of unfamiliarity), if we're just talking about the fact that it's a lot of capital letters. It's the fact that there's no standard that tells me how I read/hear it that really reveals that netspeak just hasn't reached the required maturity level (that is, familiarity level within our linguistics mashup) to be used without some kind of explication on the author's part.
Which is sad, really, because it did enough damage to my enjoyment of the story such that when I started hitting significant complaints about plotting and characterization, that I was already dismayed/annoyed enough as it was about the stylistic issues. Pity.
no subject
Date: 15 Jan 2009 05:22 am (UTC)Some of those are regional, I'm sure, like UGA (University of Georgia) getting the nickname of "Ugga" rather than "you-gee-ay". And I can't think of the example right now, but I know at least two or three common acronyms have one group that insists it's spelled-out, and another that speaks it -- hrm, I seem to recall SAC (Strategic Air Command) may have gotten that, with some AF folks calling it "sack" and others saying "ess-ay-see".
Netspeak isn't honestly that much worse than military-speak (although laborious to read by dint of unfamiliarity), if we're just talking about the fact that it's a lot of capital letters. It's the fact that there's no standard that tells me how I read/hear it that really reveals that netspeak just hasn't reached the required maturity level (that is, familiarity level within our linguistics mashup) to be used without some kind of explication on the author's part.
Which is sad, really, because it did enough damage to my enjoyment of the story such that when I started hitting significant complaints about plotting and characterization, that I was already dismayed/annoyed enough as it was about the stylistic issues. Pity.