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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage
FOIA - pronounced, not spelt, apparently
At least, that's what I understand from listening to lefty radio outfit Air America Radio.
The acronym (for 'Freedom of Information Act') looks like one of those that are spelt out (like USSR) rather than said as a word (eg, NATO).
But, apparently not. At least in the expression 'FOIA request' - a request to an agency of the US Federal government for information to be made public - FOIA is pronounced as to rhyme with 'Goya'.
(There may be some kind of political distinction being made here: perhaps the official pronounciation spells out FOIA, and activists making the requests use the 'Goya' method to be deliberately transgressive.)
The acronym (for 'Freedom of Information Act') looks like one of those that are spelt out (like USSR) rather than said as a word (eg, NATO).
But, apparently not. At least in the expression 'FOIA request' - a request to an agency of the US Federal government for information to be made public - FOIA is pronounced as to rhyme with 'Goya'.
(There may be some kind of political distinction being made here: perhaps the official pronounciation spells out FOIA, and activists making the requests use the 'Goya' method to be deliberately transgressive.)
Top answer
[/nq] Correct. /foI@/. [/nq] I dunno.
- [/nq] Correct.
- /foI@/.
- [/nq] I dunno.
- It's relatively amenable to pronunciation as a word, just like NATO.
- )[/nq] No, if anything the /foI@/ pronunciation probably started out, at least, as an insider's term, but I think it's pretty commonly heard.
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2 Answers
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[nq:1]At least, that's what I understand from listening to lefty radio outfit Air America Radio.[/nq]
Correct. /foI@/.
[nq:1]The acronym (for 'Freedom of Information Act') looks like one of those that are spelt out (like USSR) rather than said as a word (eg, NATO).[/nq]
I dunno. It's relatively amenable to pronunciation as a word, just like NATO.
[nq:1](There may be some kind of po
Correct. /foI@/.
[nq:1]The acronym (for 'Freedom of Information Act') looks like one of those that are spelt out (like USSR) rather than said as a word (eg, NATO).[/nq]
I dunno. It's relatively amenable to pronunciation as a word, just like NATO.
[nq:1](There may be some kind of po
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In the near decade I spent in Washington DC where this is the sort of thing folk talk about it was always pronounced 'foya' as one word; possibly because this has fewer syllables than saying 'F - O - I - A'?
And it must be time for me to either go to sleep or do some work: I read the phonetic pronunciation above not as 'Freedom of Information Act' on my first pass-through but as 'fridge magnet
And it must be time for me to either go to sleep or do some work: I read the phonetic pronunciation above not as 'Freedom of Information Act' on my first pass-through but as 'fridge magnet
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