Is it the CAP or just CAP?

[Major Lord]

Any combinations of letters can be pronounced, this is not probative of the words' status as an acronym.  Remember big bird singing the alphabet as a 26 letter word? Especially if you are willing to build hybrid acronyms like ROTC (rot-see) Rhymes with NAZI, also an anachronistic initialism converted to a lower- case word, i.e, "NAZI" became "Nazi". Capitalization makes it clear when a word is intended to be an initialism. Our dear leader, is "POTUS" spoken as a word, and always capitalized, but clearly an initialism. Words like "COMSUBFORATL" clearly are initialisms, but our squidly brothers find ways to pronounce them.

A separate question is whether the use changes when speaking of "The" Civil Air Patrol, versus "the" C.A.P. I know we have a publication that addresses the use of the definite article, but I can't find it. The CAP knowledge base "send inquiry" button was down last night, rats! ( Not to be confused with C-RATS, another disease bearing entity)

Major Lord

[RiverAux]

Words like "COMSUBFORATL" clearly are initialisms, but our squidly brothers find ways to pronounce them.

Those crazy Navy "words" drive me nuts when I come across them in the history books.

[SarDragon]

Capitalization makes it clear when a word is intended to be an initialism. Our dear leader, is "POTUS" spoken as a word, and always capitalized, but clearly an initialism.

Does it?

Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation -> LASER -> laser

Tactical Air Navigation -> TACAN

Radio Detection and Ranging -> RADAR -> radar

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or name. These components may be individual letters (as in CEO) or parts of words (as in Benelux and Ameslan). There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms (see nomenclature), nor on written usage (see orthographic styling). While popular in recent English, such abbreviations have historical use in English as well as other languages. As a type of word formation process, acronyms and initialisms are viewed as a subtype of blending.

and

Although the term acronym is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters, most dictionaries define acronym to mean "a word" in its original sense, while some include a secondary indication of usage, attributing to acronym the same meaning as that of initialism. According to the primary definition found in most dictionaries, examples of acronyms are NATO, scuba, and radar, while examples of initialisms are FBI and HTML.

[Hawk200]

If anyone really cares, "the" is more proper grammar.

That's where the confusion comes in, "the" sounds better, but isn't correct. The same thing happens when people refer to
a ship.

It's "Enterprise" not "The Enterprise".

I always thought "the starship Enterprise" was most appropriate.

[SarDragon]

If anyone really cares, "the" is more proper grammar.

That's where the confusion comes in, "the" sounds better, but isn't correct. The same thing happens when people refer to
a ship.

It's "Enterprise" not "The Enterprise".

That depends entirely which one you are discussing. If it's NCC-1701 [series], you can call it what you want.

In my exposure to USN vessels (a lifelong thing), I have more frequently heard ships called "the [ship's name]".  Another oft heard referential term is USS [ship's name], without 'the'.

[brenaud]

Captain Kirk used to say "THE Enterprise."

When I saw the title of the thread, the first thing that came to mind was we could take after the supporters of a certain university in Columbus, OH.  So we could be "THE CAP" instead of "the CAP".

[♠SARKID♠]

Hello. I've seen numerous people say something like "in the CAP", and numerous others just say "in CAP". Is there a correct way of saying it, or are both interchangable?

2. Description:
  a.  Name. When used as a proper noun, the name Civil Air Patrol will be used as written without the definitive article "the" preceding it.

Case closed

[vento]

^^  :clap:

[Major Lord]

Hello. I've seen numerous people say something like "in the CAP", and numerous others just say "in CAP". Is there a correct way of saying it, or are both interchangable?

2. Description:
  a.  Name. When used as a proper noun, the name Civil Air Patrol will be used as written without the definitive article "the" preceding it.

Case closed

Than you SARKID, I knew there was a reason I liked you! My CAPR search-skills seem to have gone stale! Of course, the argument is never really over until it spins into a uniform question!

Major Lord

[AngelWings]

Hello. I've seen numerous people say something like "in the CAP", and numerous others just say "in CAP". Is there a correct way of saying it, or are both interchangable?

2. Description:
  a.  Name. When used as a proper noun, the name Civil Air Patrol will be used as written without the definitive article "the" preceding it.

Case closed

My god, great find! Thank you!

[a2capt]

2. Description:
  a.  Name. When used as a proper noun, the name Civil Air Patrol will be used as written without the definitive article "the" preceding it.

Case closed

Kill Joy...
I knew it was in CAPR 900-2, but it was too funny to watch the debate    .. as the use of 'the' is a pet peeve at this end..

[Major Lord]

Thank you for letting us enjoy the pain, A2Capt! Reading the reg, it appears that the question does not just clarify the issue of the use of "The", but also when used as a proper noun, it is improper to use the initialism "CAP" to describe Civil Air Patrol, and subsequently, you may use "The CAP" in written form only when CAP is not used as a Proper Noun. This is especially true if we consider the use of the word "Will" as a regulatory mandate. Do you agree?

Major Lord
The CAP Syntax Police

[SarDragon]

Thank you for letting us enjoy the pain, A2Capt! Reading the reg, it appears that the question does not just clarify the issue of the use of "The", but also when used as a proper noun, it is improper to use the initialism "CAP" to describe Civil Air Patrol, and subsequently, you may use "The CAP" in written form only when CAP is not used as a Proper Noun. This is especially true if we consider the use of the word "Will" as a regulatory mandate. Do you agree?

Major Lord
The CAP Syntax Police

Well done!