In a seemingly unnecessary move, that frankly wasted the time of everyone involved, when they should be focused on important issues like continued exponential growth in market penetration, hosted VoIP service providers and other industry experts convened yesterday on the topic of how to pronounce the word string of letters, “VoIP”.
A House Divided
The conference was largely separated into two camps: those that pronounce VoIP as “voyp” and those that spell out the abbreviation as “v-o-i-p”. Minority parties included those that still say the full, “Voice over Internet Protocol,” and those that only abbreviate the latter words as, “Voice over IP”…
The Anti-Abbreviationists took the position that VoIP outgrew its roots as an abbreviation because of how quickly it was adopted as a word of its own by consumers and businesses. They argued that VoIP became a household phrase as soon as audiences began to organically pronounce it as a single word, “voyp”. Also, they believe “v-o-i-p” sounds silly when combined with “p-b-x”.
The “VoIP Is A Four-Letter Word Coalition” conversely argued that VoIP’s origin as an abbreviation for “Voice over Internet Protocol” is what gives it any meaning. By making VoIP into its own word, in their view, the industry would be bowing to consumer pressure at the expense of the legitimacy of the technology.
The K.O. Punch
The heated discussion lasted well into the wee hours of this morning, with neither side willing to budge and any form of compromise seeming out of the question. The arguing degraded into personal attacks on more than one occasion, with either side questioning whether the others’ mothers did or did not use VoIP. With no peaceful end in sight, the Anti-Abbreviationists surprised the VIAFLWC with what would be the final blow when one member invoked the ‘S’ word:
“The power is in the word. Something that right off the bat tells a person they’re in for something amazing, something that is going to change how they communicate. People naturally use VoIP as ‘voyp’ because that sound grips you as being cutting-edge. You know… like Skype – only shorter.”
The VIAFLWC was stunned, and had to immediately concede defeat. Asked for comment, all any member could say was, “We really like Skype.” So there you have it folks – a surprise knockout and the decision is in the books:
VoIP is officially pronounced “voyp”!
Agree or disagree? Weigh in on the decision below!
Awesome VOYP is a no brainer.