How do you transcribe a dialogue when abbreviations are used?
How do you transcribe a dialogue when abbreviations are used?
For example, when people uses acronyms like FBI or abbreviations like a.m., do we just write them as we write them when they're in a dialogue?
I am thinking FBI is FBI even if it's in a dialogue, but I am not sure about a.m.
For example:
"It's 4:00 a.m.." she said.
"It's four a em." she said.
To be honest, both look strange. Also, when would you transcribe the words or abbreviation or whatever else as they are pronounced?
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2 answers
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What's interesting is writing for the "eye" vs "ear" -- for example, in the comic books, Wonder Woman is often called, both in dialog and captions, "WW" (a savings of 10 characters) -- but to SAY "doubleyou-doubleyou" is longer than Wonder Woman -- 6 syllables compared to 4.
Similarly "World Wide Web" "WWW" "dubdubdub" (save 12 characters, but go from 3 to 9 syllables if you say the letter fully, so then people re-abbreviated (?) the letter.
(And I know people with experience in the CIA and the CIA -- culinary institute of america and central intelligence agency)
So back to your question: Cyn's answer works for your specific instances. But this is yet another chance to show character:
- Is the character a pompous guy? Maybe have him say "ante meridian" and debate anyone who gives a date as "BC" that it should be "BCE" (and "CE" instead of "AD"). (A more goofball variant is Bertram Wooster who says things like "It was far to A of the M for me to be fully awake." (Bertie often invents initialisms/acronyms
- Is the character more like Shaggy from Scooby Doo? He'll probably say "dubdubdub" instead of "WWW" when giving a URL. He may declare contentment by naming the GIF he'd send if it were chat and not face-to-face: "Jon Stewart eating popcorn, man! Tell me what's going on before I explode!"
- Is the character unfamiliar with the acronym or the group it represents? Maybe they say "N.O.A.A." instead of "No-ah" (for noaa.gov). "A.A.A." instead of Triple-A (automotive service). (It could be in reverse -- they may try to invent a pronunciation, like "Dough/D'oh" for DOE, which people familiar with it would call D-O-E." This could show a character new to that world -- a recent college grad?
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AM and FBI are not abbreviations, they are acronyms.
We know to pronounce them letter by letter because they are fully capitalized. In some cases, they also have periods after each letter (with no spaces). Never ever sound them out (unless it's to show the character is saying them wrong).
"It's 4 AM," she said.
Note I fixed the punctuation and changed 4:00 to 4 because the former is pronounced "four o'clock."
"4AM" and "4am" and "4 am" are all acceptable variations (if you need to abide by a usage guide like APA or Chicago, they may have opinions on which ones are acceptable).
An abbreviation is pronounced like it appears, or occasionally will be said in full, depending on the context.
The feds are on to us!
"Feds" stands for "federal government officials" and is pronounced "feds."
Mrs. Smith's class was amazing this week.
"Mrs." was originally short for "mistress" but now is pronounced "missus." (Note that the American form uses a period but the British form does not.) Likewise, "Mr." is always pronounced "mister."
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