So, how do you guys pronounce QDRO?

I've heard kew-drow. And qua-drow. Even sounded all the way out: kew-dee-arh-oh

How do you say it?

qua-drow

"qua-drow" for me (sometimes "trubbles")

I have always heard Qua (as in Qua-lified) - dro (as in dro-ne).

qua-drow

Yup - Qua (as in Qua-lified) - dro (as in dro-ne).

Or, "Oh No - not another one of these @%%**##@!! things."

"Qua-Dro"

that would be kwa-drow, if you are hooked on phonics

oh, so now you are going to tell me the other terms are

Qua - Dee - Eye - A (canadian Qua - Dee - Eye - Eh)

and Qua - Nec

for the record I asked the actuary in the office and he said

"How do you want it to be pronounced?" huh, go and figure.

I believe I read somewhere that the pronoucification of acronyms, even of those related in applicationistic ways, may be, but is not required to be, tonally consistent (emphasis added ... not sure why).

Quadro...But I’m Jamaican and we often drop the 'w' sound (like bellow, we say bello), so that could explain it...

Now I am curious as to how you treat "h".

oh - I stopped doing that a long time ago. I have my admin. assistant pronounce that for me now ...

I've heard tell that AP's, upon receiving a QDRO, sometimes pronounce it: Yipee Kiya. Not sure how consistent that is.

It depends on where the 'h' appears in the word. If it appears at the beginning of the word, it is ignored. Otherwise, it is recognized.

Hello is 'ello

She is she

Here is 'ear and here is 'ere

Brush is brush

Happy is 'appy.

But! if I am talking to someone other than a fellow Jamaican, the H at the beginning of the word is heavily enunciated- maybe as a way to make sure there is no misunderstanding

You forgot about the habit of some to add an "h" to words which begin with a vowel. HAppleby, for example.

Hemphasize your haiches you hignorant hass. (Part of an old Jamaican joke).

LOL . I forgot about that one.

qua - dro.

How do you say Cunard? Since we are taking about q-sounds, the correct pronunciation of this word is "Q-nard."

There's no point in trying to make any sense of the English language. I gave up long ago. Consider:

bomb
comb
tomb
womb

And why is the word "verb" a noun?

And finally, to hopefully put a smile on your face:

Tony Blair is visiting an Edinburgh hospital. He enters a ward full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or illness and greets one. The patient replies:

"Fair fa your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin race,
Aboon them a you take your place,
Painch, tripe or thairm,
As langs my airm."

Blair is confused, so he just grins and moves on to the next patient. The patient responds:

"Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
So let the Lord be thankit."

Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the PM moves on to the next patient, who immediately begins to chant:

"Wee sleekit, cowerin, timrous beasty,
Thou needna start awa sae hastie,
Wi bickering brattle."

Now troubled, Blair turns to the accompanying doctor and asks "What kind of facility is this? A mental ward?"
"No", replies the doctor.
"This is the serious Burns unit."

I'd argue the "d" should be in the first syllable... so quad-ro.

For sake of comparison, consider the words "quadratic" and "quadriplegic". The question is can you add a slight pause after the "qua" and stil have the word sound right.


On the note of silly English:

ghoti = fish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti

Don't you hate those people who kill a joke with questions? Well, me too, but I gotta ask. Is this as in Robert Burns and these men were seriously taken to mimicking his style?

masteff makes a fine qlifying point, with which I agree.

Let's not forget words like kinetic, kleptocracy, kritarchy, krobylos, ...
that begin with "k" as in knife

I say kwa-dro, since QDRO is an extension of DRO. It's a kwa-lified DRO, hence the kwa-dro pronunciation (by me).

Funny, I thought we's at least have a couple of kew-dro's in da house...

As an acronym, I am highly offended by the insensitivity shown by posters in this topic.

WDWC ?

WDIK - With apologies for any previous (and certainly unintended) insensitivity, what pronunciation of WDIK do you prefer?

Bravo.

Each letter should be said separately and in order, of course.

And if we say them backwards, do you go back to your normal plane of existence?

Yes Denise, the guys in the hospital were talking/reciting Robert Burns the Scottish poet.

Thanks Janet.

You win the award for the most obscure superman villain reference of the day.

At least I won something!

If that's the case, it's not an acronym but an abbreviation.

Does that mean that CEO, ABA, and NFL are abbreviations?

If you have shortened a word or group of words, it's an abbreviation (inc for incorporated, cpa for certified public accountant).
If you pronounce an abbreviation as a word, it's an acronym (modem for modulate-demodulate).
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acronym

PBGC is an abbreviation.
ERISA is both an abbreviation and an acronym.

radar (RAdio Detecting And Ranging)
laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus)

...are all acronyms (radar being a palindrome, too)

Then of course, there's fubar & snafu. Acrominious acronyms, I guess . . . or is it acromonious?

I'm only an abbreviation? I feel so minimized!

Is the world squeezing you in? Making you feel contracted?

To the expert formerly known as 'Widdik'

your abbreviation is timeless ... hey, maybe you're an achronym!