ANZAC or Anzac?

[motto]

Coincidently I stumbled into this ANZAC/Anzac difficulty all on my own today when I e-mailed an American before even being aware of this thread. (I've been away from home for two weeks).
In the letter I mentioned Anzac Day. As I was writing to somebody who had most likely never heard of it I explained that it was like their Veteran's Day. I then went on to give a break down of the title i.e. (ANZAC - Australian & New Zealand Army Corp). Having set out what the title stood for I felt compelled to go back and change the Anzac Day to ANZAC Day as I had made it clear that it was an acronym.
In common, spoken usage, Anzac is a word and nobody in conversation would dream of spelling it out. It may defy convention but IMHO it probably depends as much who you are writing to as to whether you use the word or the acronym.
Maybe to save arguments and avoid offending anyone we could use 'anzac'. That's funny, my spell check just tagged that and suggested Anzac?
Frankly, my dear IDGAD. Or is that Idgad? Either way, none of this is worth getting upset about.

David

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by motto

Either way, none of this is worth getting upset about.

I'm not so sure about that David. I think there's reason to be concerned when State governments legislate against the word Anzac. Fortunately it's protected under Federal law, and any attempt to amend that would be opposed by Army. Politicians are ignorant in these matters, they should stay right out of it. And even if they're knowledgeable, they have no right to unilaterally amend laws around Anzac.

[motto]

Politicians? Is that not the bunch of retards who tell us not to judge people of a certain faith by the actions of a few radical nutters but are happy to condemn all gun owners on that basis?
Surely not a group whose opinions you would value. The thought police will only win if we let them. As Monty Python would have it - Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah! ANZAC! Anzac! anzac!

David

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by motto

The thought police will only win if we let them.

Don't look now but they've already won in three States:

In recent years, when the parliaments of three State governments changed their laws about Anzac Day they specified the use of "ANZAC" instead of "Anzac". It is common for the upper-case ANZAC to be used in teaching primary school students about Anzac Day and the Anzacs.....a large proportion of Australians would have been taught at school to write "ANZAC Day" instead of "Anzac Day".

http://www.anzacwebsites.com/general/anzac-capitals.htm

[motto]

No, they haven't won Tony. The population at large will be oblivious to their crappy legislation and the word Anzac will never die just like the legend itself. People will continue to spell it as they see fit. Remember that when it is spoken it is spoken as a word not spelt out so the natural thing to do is to write it as a word. This is what I did initially when corresponding with the American. General or common usage is irresistible. I see nothing to worry about.

David

[Marc Montgomery]

NATO is spoken like a word, there's even a Nato Beach.. but its never been spelled Nato. There was USAAF, and is USAF.. but not USaf. even though it either could be pronounced like a word.
NORAD is never Norad, even though it originally stood for Nor(th american)Air Defence, which could theoretically be lower cases as each letter does not stand for a word...(NorAD) or in Canadian Press guidelines-could -theoretically be written Norad.. but it never is.

As for dictionaries being the ultimate...when they start adding "fad" words like twerking (in five years no one will know what that means...or care thank goodness) then they've lost their authority in my mind.
It remains ANZAC to me, because it follows several English language rules.

Remember the brave Chocos ! (even a Canuck knows)

[Dianaa]

Imho We Should Commemorate aNZAC And Leave The Semantics Aside!

[motto]

All attempts at humour aside, I'm with you Dianaa.

David