The Trump presidency

[J Ed]

I believe it to be more common with British papers - with a touch of sloppy editing thrown in.

For instance: NASA.

A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

Nasa officials set up 'rogue' Twitter account to resist Donald Trump

The Independent isn't a newspaper anymore, it's a poor imitation of buzzfeed (if such a thing is possible)

 

[gosub]

How many people do you think have been prosecuted under the Logan Act?

1

 

[J Ed]

1

Yes. Now, if what you were saying were applied to Trump's team then how many people from previous administrations do you think would have been prosecuted under it?

 

[J Ed]

Number is probably in the thousands, at least.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Rogue Nasa account fights Trump on climate change - BBC News

NASA - BBC News

Video For Learning UK Site > Series Details

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

On the learning site, both NASA and Nasa are used. The semi-literate - teaching the kids.

North American news outlets appear to be relatively consistent in the use of all capitals.

Google

Google

 

[FridgeMagnet]

It is common for style guides (e.g. Guardian and Observer style guide: A) to say that, in the case of a proper pronounceable acronym rather than a series of initials, the acronym should have an initial capital only.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It is common for style guides (e.g. Guardian and Observer style guide: A) to say that, in the case of a proper pronounceable acronym rather than a series of initials, the acronym should have an initial capital only.

Perhaps the BBC and The Independent have different style guides, given that they seem to use Nasa and NASA interchangeably.

In any event, there appears to be a difference in UK vs North American usage.

 

[Yossarian]

Acronyms also tend to lose their capitals with age, like laser and scuba and radar.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

NASA women space pioneers to star in new Lego set

Nasa: Earth is warming at a pace 'unprecedented in 1,000 years'

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Maybe it's worth considering how these organizations write their own names.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

What is NATO?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I struggle to care about this, but the BBC also say 'Nato'. It's clearly their style, with the odd non-style thing creeping in as it always will with an organisation that publishes so much stuff.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Perhaps the BBC and The Independent have different style guides, given that they seem to use Nasa and NASA interchangeably.

In any event, there appears to be a difference in UK vs North American usage.

In the case of the Indie it is probably just shitty (or no) editing.

The BBC does have a definite line on the issue:

Where you would normally say the abbreviation as a string of letters - an initialism - use all capitals with no full stops or spaces (eg FA, UNHCR, NUT). However, our style is to use lower case with an initial cap for acronyms, where you would normally pronounce the set of letters as a word (eg Aids, Farc, Eta, Nafta, Nasa, Opec, Apec).

(BBC Academy - Journalism - Grammar, spelling and punctuation) and I would expect better of them.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

In the case of the Indie it is probably just shitty (or no) editing.

The BBC does have a definite line on the issue:

(BBC Academy - Journalism - Grammar, spelling and punctuation) and I would expect better of them.

There is a decent rationale for this. The NUT is a good example of an acronym that could be pronounced as a word - Nut - but never is. Distinguishing between those that are pronounced as a word and those that are not with different capitalisation is being kind to the reader, telling them how to pronounce it.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Interestingly, the NYT has the same rule as the above, but only for acronyms of more than four letters - so NASA but Nascar.

An acronym is a word formed from the first letter (or letters) of each word in a series: NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization; radar from radio detection and ranging. (Unless pronounced as a word, an abbreviation is not an acronym.) When an acronym serves as a proper name and exceeds four letters, capitalize only the first letter: Unesco; Unicef.

https://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/faqs-on-style/

The iPhone autoreplace however tries to capitalise NASCAR.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

In the case of the Indie it is probably just shitty (or no) editing.

The BBC does have a definite line on the issue:

(BBC Academy - Journalism - Grammar, spelling and punctuation) and I would expect better of them.

Interesting. I can't recall ever seeing NAFTA, for instance, spelled any other way than with all capitals, in papers here. Same with OPEC, etc. AIDS is always 'AIDS', which makes sense, given that Aids could have a different meaning.

The change of all-capitals acronyms into Xxxx format or even xxxx format makes some sense for generic items that come into common use, like 'laser' 'scuba' etc, as mentioned above.

To me, it seems odd to change the name of an organization that abbreviates its name with capitals - like NATO and NASA do, into something other than the way the organization does it.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

There is a decent rationale for this. The NUT is a good example of an acronym that could be pronounced as a word - Nut - but never is. Distinguishing between those that are pronounced as a word and those that are not with different capitalisation is being kind to the reader, telling them how to pronounce it.

Yes, I think it's a reasonable thing to do. This came up at work a while back and I started initial-capping all of our acronyms in emails just to be picky (like I always use "data" in the plural).

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Yes, I think it's a reasonable thing to do. This came up at work a while back and I started initial-capping all of our acronyms in emails just to be picky (like I always use "data" in the plural).

I use 'media' in the plural.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Yes, I think it's a reasonable thing to do. This came up at work a while back and I started initial-capping all of our acronyms in emails just to be picky (like I always use "data" in the plural).

The picky ex-sub in me picks up on these things, but I rarely find anyone else either notices or cares.

I've given up on one two other picky foibles. Most people now seem to think that 'none of them is...' is a mistake.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I use 'media' in the plural.

So you should! I picked up data-as-plural from working with statisticians, who are all picky about that IME.

...IME is a pronounced initialisation so should be all caps... but what about lol? Nobody capitalises lol these days but maybe it should be Lol? Or is the rule only for acronyms representing entities, rather than just abbreviations? This is a minefield.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

The picky ex-sub in me picks up on these things, but I rarely find anyone else either notices or cares.

I've given up on one two other picky foibles. Most people now seem to think that 'none of them is...' is a mistake.

That would make me grind my teeth. I think I've been damaged by working as a temp when younger and having to type up illegible handwritten rubbish from semi-literate middle managers. I used to correct their spelling and grammar but sometimes the result was nothing like the source.

 

[Maltin]

Interesting. I can't recall ever seeing NAFTA, for instance, spelled any other way than with all capitals, in papers here. Same with OPEC, etc. AIDS is always 'AIDS', which makes sense, given that Aids could have a different meaning.

As per The NY Times Style guide that FridgeMagnet posted, they use Nafta in their article such as the one below.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/us/politics/wilbur-ross-commerce-secretary.html?rref=collection/timestopic/North American Free Trade Agreement&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

I've always found it odd, especially with FIFA and UEFA where it's not always written in all caps so it's useful to find out why writers do it even if I think they are wrong to do so.

 

[Pickman's model]

There is a decent rationale for this. The NUT is a good example of an acronym that could be pronounced as a word - Nut - but never is. Distinguishing between those that are pronounced as a word and those that are not with different capitalisation is being kind to the reader, telling them how to pronounce it.

Top pedantry lbj

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

NASA women space pioneers to star in new Lego set

Nasa: Earth is warming at a pace 'unprecedented in 1,000 years'

So the Wright State University newspaper and the Guardian have different style guides, eh?

 

[Pickman's model]

So the Wright State University newspaper and the Guardian have different style guides, eh?

Not to mention different priorities

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

So the Wright State University newspaper and the Guardian have different style guides, eh?

Obviously too early in the morning. Kudos to you for actually scrutinizing the links.

In any event, it makes sense to me that if an ongoing, active organization abbreviates its name with all capitals, that the media should reproduce its name in the same fashion used by that organization itself.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Epic series of batshit Tweets from Trump today. Pelosi and Schumer and the Russians. Obama bugged his phone so Nixon. Russian Ambassador visited Obama Whitehouse 22 times! And best of all Arnie fired from The Apprentice because: bad ratings.

I think what ever they gave him so he could hold it together for a full hour while making that speech to Congress has sent him over the edge.

 

[J Ed]

Hilarious stuff this.

 

[NoXion]

Hilarious stuff this.

I can see at least one way in which that would be technically true, but effectively meaningless.

 

[J Ed]

I can see at least one way in which that would be technically true, but effectively meaningless.

You could even call it post-truth, or fake news, if you were so inclined