DOS or Dee Oh Ess?

[geno]

I say "Dee Oh Ess" :awe:

 

[RavenSEAL]

...they are both the same....?

 

[Kirby]

the correct way, just like GUI, SCSI, or SCUBA.

 

[Vic Vega]

What about CDRW?

 

[Golgatha]

I would say, WTF are you talking about if you started talking about Dee Oh Ess in a conversation. I've always heard it pronounced as DOS.

 

[Unmoosical]

Geno, you win 4 times so far.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Any acronym that can be pronounced as a word is usually pronounced as a word.

"Scuzzi"
"Dahs"
ROM
RAM
KISS
MILF
PIN

Others are crossovers like
LOL

And then you have ones that even though you can pronounce them, doing so is just as hard as saying it:
ATM

Others just do not have any real pronunciation:
GG
HF
WTF?

But, YMMV.

 

[BurnItDwn]

ugh ... I call it pos, because DOS is a piece of shit. Unix can do everything dos can do and more, so much better.

 

[acheron]

Any acronym that can be pronounced as a word is usually pronounced as a word.

That's what "acronym" means. If you don't pronounce it as a word, it's not an acronym, it's just an abbreviation.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Eff Are Eee Eee Dee Oh Ess

 

[DrunkenSano]

Berb or BRB?

 

[preslove]

I say Disk Operating System every time I say it.

 

[bignateyk]

It's pronounced Doss. Dos is spanish and pronounced "dose".

 

[Dominato3r]

ugh ... I call it pos, because DOS is a piece of shit. Unix can do everything dos can do and more, so much better.

I strongly disagree.

 

[ElFenix]

dee oh ess is hoss just doesn't have that ring to it

 

[fatpat268]

*yawn*

 

[gimmewhitecastles]

people that spell out acronyms are usually snotty jackasses.

 

[Lonyo]

I say DiscoSys.

 

[tynopik]

depends on what i'm talking about

disk operating system: doss
denial of service: dee oh ess

 

[DT4K]

That's what "acronym" means. If you don't pronounce it as a word, it's not an acronym, it's just an abbreviation.

Interesting.

I've always thought of an acronym as an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of each word of a phrase, whether or not it was pronounced as a word or individual letters.

But it seems most formal definitions agree with you.

Most definitions of abbreviation use things like St. = Saint, Dr. = Doctor, etc., as examples. Not phrases.


What would you call BBC, DNA, OEM, USA?

Back on topic, DOS is pronounced as a word. I've NEVER heard anyone pronounce it as individual letters.

OS on the other hand, seems to be universally pronounced as individual letters. I've never had anyone ask me which "oss" I was running on my PC.

 

[911paramedic]

I just flashed my bios.

 

[zinfamous]

depends on what i'm talking about

disk operating system: doss
denial of service: dee oh ess

but isn't that actually DDOS? DEDICATED denial of service?

 

[zinfamous]

I just flashed my bios.

how did it feel?

 

[911paramedic]

how did it feel?

Don't know, ended with a static discharge.

 

[SagaLore]

If its the old cli, then I say "DOSS". If its a denial of service, I will either say denial of service, or a "DOSS attack".