Pronouncing ROTC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My military bros used to pronounce it as ROTK. like "rot-ke" . Apparently the only true hardcore military way to say it.

So very American. Can't fight but must sound cool. LOL.

"Only true hardcore" - what nonsense, posted by a sham with obviously no military experience whatsoever.

Third generation military family with multiple members in USA, USMC, USN, USAF and never, not once, have I heard anyone say "rot-ke."

[Anonymous]

I was in ROTC and served afterward as a military officer. It is said R.O.T.C.

[Anonymous]

College boyfriend in the 90s was in af rotc. Pronounced it rotsy.
I’ve heard it both ways.

[Anonymous]

Are-oh-tee-see
That's how they pronounced it at my montgomery county public school

[Anonymous]

Rot C. I was in a really liberal college and we said it that way, with an emphasis on rot. I always thought that pronunciation was derogatory, not that I ever thought about ROTC much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad was ROTC. He never uses "rotsy" and always says the individual letters.

One of my dad's best friends also was ROTC. The two achieved notably high ranks in their branches of service, which is pretty much unheard of since there is (used to be?) a significant bias in favor of academy graduates. The friend and his children also always use the individual letters when they discuss ROTC.

I don't mean to be unkind but in our collective experiences, we think of "rotsy" as slang and that someone who uses "rotsy" is trying to be the hipster cool kid. Others may have different experiences.

I attended a college in the 80's, and my resident assistant was in ROTC; he pronounced it as the letters R.O.T.C. My daughter attended the same college 30 years later and entered ROTC and the pronunciation remained the same (with letters). First time I heard "rotsy" was on the show Last Man Standing when character Eve enrolled in her high school's ROTC program.

[Anonymous]

I’m in my mid-40s from MD and pronounce it ROTSY.

[Anonymous]

I called it ROTCY and kids look at me funny. Im in my 50s so it must have been a generational thing

[Anonymous]

We say each letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dad was ROTC. He never uses "rotsy" and always says the individual letters.

One of my dad's best friends also was ROTC. The two achieved notably high ranks in their branches of service, which is pretty much unheard of since there is (used to be?) a significant bias in favor of academy graduates. The friend and his children also always use the individual letters when they discuss ROTC.

I don't mean to be unkind but in our collective experiences, we think of "rotsy" as slang and that someone who uses "rotsy" is trying to be the hipster cool kid. Others may have different experiences.

Same. My dad was an ROTC professor and neither he nor his fellow ROTC officers ever said “rotsie.” I heard someone do it once and asked him about it and his was dismissive but didn’t say why. It could be regional or branch specific (my dad was army).

Exactly ditto for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad was ROTC. He never uses "rotsy" and always says the individual letters.

One of my dad's best friends also was ROTC. The two achieved notably high ranks in their branches of service, which is pretty much unheard of since there is (used to be?) a significant bias in favor of academy graduates. The friend and his children also always use the individual letters when they discuss ROTC.

I don't mean to be unkind but in our collective experiences, we think of "rotsy" as slang and that someone who uses "rotsy" is trying to be the hipster cool kid. Others may have different experiences.

I don’t mean to be unkind, but no one cool is ever talking about ROTC.

[Anonymous]

Lived the military life for decades and heard both. But I’ve noticed that people who spell it out are either ROTC instructors or parents with kids considering it for school and it’s their first experience with anything military. Just seems more formal.

[Anonymous]

Officer husband spells it out

[Anonymous]

We said Rotsy in Baltimore. Covilians usually say R-O-T-C though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We said Rotsy in Baltimore. Covilians usually say R-O-T-C though.

Both are fine. This is a program that cuts across many geographical, class, & generational lines, so people should be able to handle more than one way to pronounce it. Jeez.