the pronunciation of vip

[SzuHsienFeng]

why is the word vip pronounced as V I P??
why can't it be pronounced together??

[Raymott]

why is the word vip pronounced as V I P??
why can't it be pronounced together??

There is no word "vip". VIP is pronounced 'vee eye pee' because it's an acronym, like BBC, IBM. Some acronyms are pronounced the way they are spelt, eg. NASA, NATO, but most aren't.

[5jj]

Hi, SzuHsienFeng. Welcome to the forum.

It just happens that we don't read 'VIP' as a word. It's just one of those things.

[Tullia]

Hi, SzuHsienFeng. Welcome to the forum.

It just happens that we don't read 'VIP' as a word. It's just one of those things.

You know I hate to disagree with you, 5jj, but I *do* hear people saying it as a word nowadays. Not often, and usually I think it's said with an awareness that it's "wrong". If I had to guess at a motivation for using it in this fashion I'd say potentially speed, and also the factor that the users believe it somehow sounds "cooler", as if the person speaking is so used to dealing with "Very Important People" that they can treat them casually. Vip, when pronounced as a word, certainly has some snappiness to the sound.

I wouldn't recommend pronouncing it like this to any English user, though, as it might well be thought to be an actual error by others, who would be more forgiving of a native speaker's liberties with standard usage - unfair as that is.

[SzuHsienFeng]

thanks!
and my next question is the pronunciation of the acronym AIDS
why does it can be pronounced as aids rather than A I D S

[BobK]

You know I hate to disagree with you, 5jj, but I *do* hear people saying it as a word nowadays. Not often, and usually I think it's said with an awareness that it's "wrong". If I had to guess at a motivation for using it in this fashion I'd say potentially speed, and also the factor that the users believe it somehow sounds "cooler", as if the person speaking is so used to dealing with "Very Important People" that they can treat them casually. Vip, when pronounced as a word, certainly has some snappiness to the sound.

I wouldn't recommend pronouncing it like this to any English user, though, as it might well be thought to be an actual error by others, who would be more forgiving of a native speaker's liberties with standard usage - unfair as that is.

Welcome back Tullia Yes - I've heard this too. I think it was in a context where there was another acronym to support the idea of making it a spoken word: 'VIP will meet for drinks at 7.30pm, and WAGs [Wives and Girlfriends] will accompany them.' (It would sound odd to say /vi: aɪ pi:z/ and then /wægz/ [the accepted usage] in the same utterance. But I agree with your final point.

b
PS SzuHsienFeng Again, it's just the way we say it. (And please start a new thread when you change topics.)