188
submitted 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) by Wudi@feddit.uk to c/world@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 18 points 10 hours ago

"Nato" all through the article is infuriating, but at least you know a human wrote it.

[-] dparticiple@sh.itjust.works 29 points 9 hours ago
[-] otter@lemmy.ca 31 points 9 hours ago

Neat

Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters: BBC, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell out with initial capital, eg Nasa, Nato, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as awol, laser and, more recently, asbo, pin number and sim card. Note that pdf and plc are lowercase.

[-] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 hour ago

Huh, I thought VAT was also pronounced as a word

[-] palordrolap@fedia.io 1 points 26 minutes ago

Both definitely happen, but this is almost certainly a formal writing versus common vernacular thing.

As for why, I'd guess the pronunciation as a word could be mistaken for the actual word "vat" or, worse, "fat". Most people want fat on their goods almost as much as they want V.A.T., but now there's confusion added into the mix.

Never eat angry tomatoes

[-] dparticiple@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago

The Economist has a similar standard: https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/style_guide_12.pdf (see the 'pronounceable abbreviations' section, for instance)

this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
188 points (98.5% liked)

World News

56283 readers
2003 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS