Use phonetic acronyms / abbreviations in dialogue?

[Dave Barsby]

Just wondering if there is a rule or etiquette when using acronyms and abbreviations in dialogue.

In my book there is liberal use of the RFID chip, and while I'm happy sticking with typing it as RFID in the prose, when my characters say the word should I type it as we say it - Arfid?

What do you think? If your character wanted to say the abbrieviated form of "what you see is what you get", would you type it as WYSIWYG or as something like Wuziwig?

 

[VinceK]

I wouldn't worry too much about rules and etiquette in writing, many bestselling authors obviously don't My tip would be to explain the acronym as early as possible and then include it as an acronym in dialogue which in your case would be RFID. Using phonetics would, in my opinion, confuse the reader.

 

[Ursa major]

I would have thought that the easiest solution for both the writer and reader is to simply use the acronym and let the reader translate it as they wish. (For instance, if I ever found myself having to pronounce RFID out loud -- it's not something I've ever done -- I'd spell it out "Ar ef eye dee"). If someone said "arfid" to me, I might not (at first) realise what they meant... because I've never heard anyone say it out loud. This is in spite of having known about RFID for well over a decade (to the extent that I can't recall when I first read** about it).


One little problem can be how it's punctuated. The form of the indefinite article one uses usually depends on whether the first letter of the word starts with a consonant or a vowel. However, not all the words used to name consonants start with a consonant, the exceptions being: ef, el, em, en, ar, es, ex. As for the vowels, u is generally pronounced "you", i.e. with a consonant at the beginning.

In the case of arfid and RFID, it doesn't matter: both pronunciations start with ar.... And the writer is absolved of any worry in many other cases: where the acronym is not obviously pronounceable***, or where, by convention, only one form is every used (US, UK and EU... are always spelt out, even though they could be pronounced as single words). However, there are exceptions (none of which spring to mind at the moment, but I'm sure I've mentioned some of them elsewhere on the Chrons in the past).


** - I may even have heard a radio programme about it, but I'm pretty sure that those talking about it would also have spelt it out (if they didn't simply say something like "chip" instead).

*** - Though people do their best to pronounce acronyms as words. So, for example, few people if any say, "that's an SCSI interface," because scuzzy starts with a consonant....

 

[Dave Barsby]

Cheers for the advice. RFIDs it is.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Just what Ursa said. Spell the acronym, and the readers will pronounce it as they see fit. I would pronounce RFID as Ursa said, in individual letters, but if someone chose to read it as Arfid, that's their lookout. WYSIWYG I would say as "wizzywig", but someone else might think of it in letters. Or, more likely, just skim over it without thinking of a pronunciation at all. It only becomes a problem if you have an audiobook made, and then you have to make a decision how the narrator ought to deal with it.