Monday, March 14, 2022

Fowler's in uniform

It's a long story, but the Editor has been thinking about some inconsistencies in military-lawspeak. Some notes follow. Please add your faves,  non-faves, or quibbles in the comments (real names only, please).

U.S. Court of Military Appeals: abbreviated as CMA, but pronounced like "coma" -- and no, it's not "the CMA."

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces: not pronounced "us-caf" or see-double-A-eff. And no definite article. Just say CAF (rhymes with "calf").

U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals: ACCA (ack-uh),  no definite article. For all other CCAs, use the definite article, since otherwise they sound weird (e.g., how to say "CGCCA"?).

Yes, it's "the TJAG" when referring to Numero Uno, pronounced tea-jag. See also dee-jag.

Department of Defense: dee-oh-dee, no definite article. Federal-agencyspeak is totally inconsistent on this kind of thing: we refer to the Department of Justice as "DOJ" (no definite article) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as FERC ("furk") (same), but use the definite article when referring to the IRS, the SEC, or the FCC.

National Institute of Military Justice: NIMJ, no definite article, and pronounced to rhyme (roughly) with "binge" not with "ninja." Or en-eye-em-jay.

Last but not least: 10-yard penalty for "military court-martial" or "court-martials."

Your move.

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