NACA

[Obviousman]

For about the third time this month I have heard people refer to the NACA as "nakka" (as in "I'm knackered!") rather than "en - ay - see - ay".

I had always believed the latter to be the correct; am I wrong? Is the NACA pronounced in the same way we'd refer to NASA?

[raven]

I wasn't alive when it was an existing organization, but, unlike NASA, I always pronounced it as an initialism. Nakka sounds like some kind of fake 'exotic' chant, or some New England drawl. "Mah deah, Ah'm just so dreadfully nakkah."

[gillianren]

That's Southern, not New England!

[raven]

That's Southern, not New England!

I was thinking the posh, drawn out, dropped R, New England accent. Anyway, according to the Cambridge dictionary website at least, it's pronounced as an initialism. My hunch is pronouncing it Nakka is a bit of a retcon to keep it inline with NASA.

[gwiz]

"Nakka" goes back a long way in the UK aerospace industry.  I first came across NACA aerofoils when I was in college in the mid 1960s and they are still referenced.  I've never heard anyone use anything but "Nakka".

[PDI-11]

The book Apollo by Catherine Bly Cox and Charles Murray go to great lengths to differentiate whether an acronym is pronounced or spelled out. This is what they say in their forward:

The big problem comes with acronyms, some of which are pronounced, some of which are spelled out. For example, people on the inside always refer to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as "N.A.C.A.," pronounced "en at see at." They never say "nacka."