Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 January 29

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January 29

'A' or 'an' before an abbreviation in writing?

Should the indefinite article be written 'a' or 'an' when it precedes an abbreviation that begins with a vowel sound? For example, in the phrase "a National Security Agency investigation", one may wish to abbreviate National Security Agency to NSA. So should this be written "a NSA investigation" or "an NSA investigation"? Obviously, when the phrase is spoken it would be "an NSA investigation", because the letter N begins with a vowel sound. But should this be reflected in writing, or should it be "a NSA investigation" to reflect the fact that the letters NSA are an abbreviation? --Viennese Waltz 10:08, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

@Viennese Waltz An states that its use is based on sound, not spelling. So "an NSA investigation", "a US citizen". Bazza (talk) 11:11, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Of course if you're in the habit of pronouncing "NSA" as "National Security Agency" instead of as the initials then you should use "a NSA investigation". A similar issue arises with abbrevations that may be pronounced as words or as letters. If you pronounce "FAQ" as "fack", you should use "a" with it; if you pronounce it as the three letters F-A-Q, you should use "an". --142.112.220.65 (talk) 20:08, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Came here to say this. With the NSA investigation example, it doesn't really matter - "an" is probably more likely, but if I was reading it out loud and I saw "a" I'd just read the acronym out as "National Security Agency". However if the example was "NASA" (which is nearly always pronounced as a word), "an" would look wrong. – filelakeshoe (t / c) 🐱 20:50, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Nitpick: "An" would be wrong for NASA in either case. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:26, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

Counter-nitpick: there are three cases. Don't forget "An N-A-S-A...". --142.112.220.65 (talk) 04:16, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

Who says "N-A-S-A"??? Clarityfiend (talk) 11:40, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

Doesn't matter; NASA was just an example. There are some abbreviations that people people pronounce in that manner. I believe NASA's predecessor NACA was one of them. --142.112.220.65 (talk) 18:04, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

If you're in the habit of pronouncing initialisms as their expanded forms you're just being silly. Don't do that. And edpecially don't write as if you expect someone to do that. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 08:53, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

• Did you ever hear "50 mph" pronounced otherwise than as "50 miles per hour" or "50 miles an hour"? --142.112.220.65 (talk) 18:04, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

  Yes. In my version of English, "em-pee-aitch" is one of the pronunciations. Bazza (talk) 10:25, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Interesting that you say that, because I reckon we as Wikipedians are quite prone to doing that :) I might write "NS" and "MoS" as shorthand on talk pages but I would never read them out as abbreviations. – filelakeshoe (t / c) 🐱 10:01, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

I've seen occurrences of that in the past and always found myself doubting their competency or sanity. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:00, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

That's an extraordinarily low bar for a sanity test, if I may say so. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:11, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

I don't give a F*** what you think about my competence or sanity.  --Lambiam 01:00, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

These [1], [2], [3] [4], [5] show this quite a complex subject. 80.47.47.204 (talk) 13:22, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

You mean, an F*** ? No such user (talk) 10:52, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Le mot juste :-) Alansplodge (talk) 18:33, 1 February 2023 (UTC)