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UPS – for native English speakers There is an American company called UPS (United Parcel Service). The company also operates in Denmark. In Danish “ups” means “oops”, so I have always found the name amusing. I am just curious. Is the sound of “ups” so different from “oops” that a native speaker just doesn’t make the association from “ups” to “oops”? Thanks for your help!
May 7, 2018 10:44 AM
Answers · 6
2
Pretty much universally, native speakers say the individual letters U-P-S, rather than trying to say the initials as a single word, so it's rarely an issue. I've heard it being called 'ups' (pronounced "uh'ps"), but the speaker promptly disappeared amidst a cloud of embarrassment... -_- Because the word 'up' is spoken with the broader (not sure of the linguistic term, but it's distinct from the narrow 'oo' from 'oops') 'uh' sound, the connection you intimate isn't really drawn among native English speakers... I say this as an RP person, so there may be regional accents that may do otherwise.
May 7, 2018
2
I think in English the acronym is generally spelled out as /ju pi es/, that and the fact that the interjection is spelled "oops" in English means that people don't make the connection. Perhaps it would be different if the company were called OOPS.
May 7, 2018
1
In the US, we would pronounce UPS as individual letters (yoo pee es) for the courier, and "uh'ps" for the uninterrupted power supply unit (used on computers, electronics, etc.).
May 7, 2018
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