While watching a Headline News story about Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services, one of the anchors pronoucned the acronym as if it were a single word: “Voyp.”
Personally, I thought this was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. I mentioned this to Joel and he said “voyp” sounds like some weird new sexually transmitted disease.
Shouldn’t it be “vee-oh-eye-pee”? I mean (speaking of STD’s), I realize that AIDS is pronounced “Aids,” but nobody refers to HIV as “Hiv.”
So, my question is: What is the proper out-loud pronunciation of VoIP, “voyp,” or “vee-oh-eye-pee”? Any assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
The reporter got it right. As a technology consulting firm, we deal with this stuff all the time where I work, often designing it or working with colleges that have it. The IT departments all call it either “Voice Over IP” or just “Voyp.”
Huh. Well, I still say it sounds silly.
Definitely Voyp. And you committed a sin far greater than sounding silly with an acronym. You used an apostrophe to pluralize something (“STD’s”). That’s my single biggest pet peeve. Ever. Now I have to kill you. Sorry.
Ah, shit. I wrote this post when I was very, very tired last night. My apologies for my grammatical sin. Looking at it again, it looks dumb to me too.
techies and journalists may call it voip, but normal people who use it don’t. i agree, ellen, it sounds dumb!
Also, for what it’s worth, my gays have started referring to HIV as “the Hiv.” This is considered particularly hilarious to mention when someone hasn’t been feeling well — “What’s wrong with you?” “I’ve got the Hiv, actually.”
Hilarity ensues.
Casey, do you and your friends ever worry you’re going to drown in your own sarcasm?
No, we’d drown in superpremium vodka before we ever succumbed to something as mortal and pedestrian as sarcasm.