I was looking over this BBC story on their website and noticed the headline didn't match the story. In the headline (and the into on their Home page) they use "Nasa" but "NASA" in the article. Has it now become so familiar that it is possible to reduce the acronym to a common noun? I think thi happened with others like "sonar" and "radar."

Good spot, Proof. Their site could have done with some proofreading there. I've often seen Nasa used instead of the all-capitals version (similarly with other acronyms like Nato). However, the usage should have been consistent between the headline and the article's text; they should have used one or t'other, but not both.

While this isn't about NASA (and I've only seen it with capital letters), it is about acronyms.

My sister's friend said, "So what do you think about this hi-nee virus?" She was referring to H1N1 of course, but thought it was a Hini.

Maybe she got a flu shot in the butt.