| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | U.S. or US (U.K. or UK) Thread poster: Emma Goldsmith
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Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 08:32
Member (2011)
English to German
Emma Goldsmith wrote:
For many years I have happily used "UK" (without full stops) as an abbreviation for the United Kingdom as a proper noun and as an adjective.
At the same time I have been using U.S. (with full stops) for the United States.
It has recently dawned on me that this is not very coherent on my part. Should I be using full stops or not? Surely I shouldn't be mixing UK and U.S. in the same text, but on the other hand, U.K. doesn't look right, and US could get confused with "us" (personal pronoun).
I translate into British English.
Any advice?
According to my Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by A. S. Hornby (Eighth Impression 1978), the abbreviation is
– UK for the United Kingdom,
– US for the United States and
– USA for the United States of America.
The online available DUDEN also confirms these abbreviations:
– https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/UK
– https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/United_States__of_America_
I hope this helps, even though I translate from English into German…
| | | | Tomasso 
United States
Local time: 06:32
Member (2008)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Regionalism,,,,some prefer USA, U.S.A. or even US of America | Jan 5, 2021 |
An example of a complaint of Mexico and Brazil.....https://www.revistabula.com/4495-estadunidense-e-norte-americano-as-palavras-e-a-fraude/
Quote. Americanos não se acham nem se chamam de “estaduninenses” ou “norte-americanos”, pelos simples fato de que não o são mesmo: moram num país chamado América, que reúne ***52 Estados unidos sob esse nome***. Quem tem um grau elementar de informação ou já esteve por lá sabe que esse negócio de “estaduninense” é uma inve... See more An example of a complaint of Mexico and Brazil.....https://www.revistabula.com/4495-estadunidense-e-norte-americano-as-palavras-e-a-fraude/
Quote. Americanos não se acham nem se chamam de “estaduninenses” ou “norte-americanos”, pelos simples fato de que não o são mesmo: moram num país chamado América, que reúne ***52 Estados unidos sob esse nome***. Quem tem um grau elementar de informação ou já esteve por lá sabe que esse negócio de “estaduninense” é uma invenção da esquerda autoritária encampada alegremente pela esquerda desinformada. Ambas parecem desconhecer que ali nas vizinhanças tem um país chamado ****Estados Unidos Mexicanos***. Se fossem um pouco mais sérios e rigorosos, chamariam os americanos de “estaduninenses do norte” e os mexicanos de “estaduninenses do sul” Ainda farão isso, a crer no retrospecto de equívocos dessa turma nas últimas décadas.
It was always pointed out that Brazil was also the United States of Brazil, in the 1970s, and it was a point that many in Central America and Brazil, would be quick to point out, many not liking the exclusive use of American by the land of Lincoln and Washingtom. Brazilians always made a point , Estados Unidos do Norte, Norteamericanoos. In Europe this probably is not very controversial, but many from Mexico often make a point about North American , even today ▲ Collapse
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Robert in Pisa wrote:
For the record, or merely as a curiosity, the BBC's website consistently uses "U.K." but "US" (also within the same article). I have never come across an explanation for this. Perhaps some British user could enlighten us?
Not the BBC website in front of me...
Standard modern British usage is US and UK. Standard US usage is U.S. and U.K.
[Edited at 2021-01-05 15:30 GMT]
| | | | | BBC Style guide | Jan 5, 2021 |
Although it doesn't specifically mention the terms "UK" or "US", the BBC online style guide does indicate that no full stops should be used in acronyms when the abbreviation is pronounced as a string of letters (which is the case of "UK" and "US").
"Use the abbreviated form of a title without explanation only if there is no chance of any misunderstanding (eg UN, Nato, IRA, BBC). Otherwise, spell it out in full at first reference, or introduce a label (eg the public sector union Unit... See more Although it doesn't specifically mention the terms "UK" or "US", the BBC online style guide does indicate that no full stops should be used in acronyms when the abbreviation is pronounced as a string of letters (which is the case of "UK" and "US").
"Use the abbreviated form of a title without explanation only if there is no chance of any misunderstanding (eg UN, Nato, IRA, BBC). Otherwise, spell it out in full at first reference, or introduce a label (eg the public sector union Unite).
Where you would normally say the abbreviation as a string of letters - an initialism - use all capitals with no full stops or spaces (eg FA, UNHCR, NUT). However, our style is to use lower case with an initial cap for acronyms, where you would normally pronounce the set of letters as a word (eg Aids, Farc, Eta, Nafta, Nasa, Opec, Apec).
There are a few exceptions:
the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is capped up ie NICE
the UK Independence Party is capped up ie UKIP
Strategic Health Authority becomes SHA (‘Sha’ looks like a typo)
Seasonal Affective Disorder becomes SAD (‘Sad’ would be confusing).
For names with initials, we avoid full stops and spaces (ie JK Rowling and WH Smith). When abbreviating a phrase, rather than a name or title, use lower case (ie lbw, mph)."
(from https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsstyleguide/grammar-spelling-punctuation)
For info, the United Nations editorial manual states that the full country names "the United States of America" and "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" can be shortened to "United States of America" and "United Kingdom" once they have been given in full in the text.
The ISO codes are USA and GBR (without full stops).
I agree that not using full stops looks "cleaner" but think whatever you choose, it's probably good to be consistent.
Interesting topic!
Irene ▲ Collapse
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