Acronyms & Initialisms

[Anne59]

Hi everyone,

I've learned that there are acronyms and initialisms such as:-

NATO - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (an acromyn pronounced as a word)
and
CIA - Central Intelligence Agency (an initialism where each letter is pronounced)

When I see a list, how do I know what is an acronym and what is an initialism to pronounce it correctly?

Thanks!

 

[Raymott]

You don't know. You can reasonably guess that CBC, NBC, IBM, etc. are not acronyms, but initialisms.
Many people won't/can't make a distinction and call them all acronyms. A native speaker who doesn't know the term has to look it up, or ask someone.

 

[Roman55]

No, you don't know, but if it looks like a word it's usually an acronym. e.g. Scuba, radar, sonar, laser, and of course, tardis.

 

[MikeNewYork]

"Scuba", "radar", "sonar", and "laser" have moved beyond acronyms. The are no longer capitalized. They have become real words.

 

[emsr2d2]

TARDIS should still be capitalised. (Yes, resident Doctor Who geek is here!)