Re: "a SQL sever" vs "an SQL server"

[Odile Sullivan-Tarazi <odile -at- mindspring -dot- com>]

Oracle style guidelines call for the pronunciation to be "sequel," 
and so the article "a" (as you've noted) follows as a matter of 
course.  Judging from three or four of the docs posted on the IBM 
website, IBM goes with pronouncing the individual letters, from 
which, naturally, the other form of the indefinite article follows.

Since both pronunciations are current, to determine which you'll want 
to enforce, you might check to see what some of the major publishers 
are doing.  O'Reilly seems to go with "sequel" -- though I've checked 
only a couple of books.

Not all of your audience will read the acronym the same, so whichever 
way you go, some portion of your readers will experience a disconnect 
when hitting the article + acronym combination you've chosen.  But at 
least your docs will be consistent, and if you do your research 
beforehand, you have a better chance of squelching further argument 
on the matter.


Odile





At 12:02 PM -0400 9/22/05, arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com wrote: