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Backronym

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withretronym.
Humorous example of a backronym used by NASA to namea treadmill on the International Space Station,in reference to American comedianStephen Colbert

Abackronymis anacronymformed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type offalse etymologyorfolk etymology.The word is aportmanteauofbackandacronym.[1]

A normal acronym is a word derived from the initial letters of the words of a phrase,[2]such asradarfrom "radio detection and ranging".[3]By contrast, a backronym is "an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word's origin".[1]Manyfictional espionage organizationsare backronyms, such asSPECTRE(special executive for counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion) from theJames Bondfranchise.

For example, theAmber Alertmissing-child program was named afterAmber Hagerman,a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1996.[4]Officials later publicized the backronym "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response".[5]

Examples[edit]

An example of a backronym as amnemonicis theApgar score,used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system was devised by and named afterVirginia Apgar.Ten years after the initial publication, the backronymAPGARwas coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration.[6]Another example is the American Contract Bridge League's tools to address cheating in online bridge games. EDGAR was originally named for Edgar Kaplan, whose many contributions to the game included groundbreaking efforts to reduce illegal partnership communication. The new EDGAR tools expected to debut in early 2024 have been launched with the backronym "everyone deserves a game above reproach".[7]

ManyUnited States Congressbills have backronyms as their names; examples include the AmericanCARES Act(CoronavirusAid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) of 2020,[8][9]theUSA PATRIOT Act(Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, and theDREAM Act(Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).[10]In the113th Congress(2013) there were over 240 bills with such names.[11]

As false etymologies[edit]

Further information:List of common false etymologies of English words § Acronyms

Sometimes a backronym is reputed to have been used in the formation of the original word, and amounts to a false etymology or anurban legend.Acronyms were rare in the English language before the 1930s, and most etymologies of common words or phrases that suggest origin from an acronym are false.[12]

Examples includeposh,an adjective describing stylish items or members of the upper class. A popular story derives the word as an acronym from "port out, starboard home", referring to 19th-century first-class cabins onocean liners,which were shaded from the sun on outbound voyages east (e.g. from Britain toIndia) and homeward voyages west.[13]The word's actual etymology is unknown, but more likely related toRomanipåš xåra('half-penny') or toUrdu(borrowed fromPersian)safed-pōśh('white robes'), a term for wealthy people.[14]

Another example is the wordchav,which is a derogatory term for a working-class youth. This word is probably of Romani origin[15]but commonly believed to be a backronym of "council-housed and violent".[16]

Similarly, the distress signalSOSis often believed to be an abbreviation for "save our ship" or "save our souls" but was chosen because it has a simple and unmistakable Morse code representation – three dots, three dashes, and three dots, sent without any pauses between characters.[17]

More recent examples include the brand nameAdidas,named after company founderAdolf "Adi" Dasslerbut falsely believed to be an acronym for "all day I dream about sport";[18][pages needed]The wordWiki,said to stand for "what I know is",[19]but in fact derived from theHawaiianphrasewiki-wikimeaning 'fast';[20]orYahoo!,sometimes claimed to mean "yet another hierarchical officious oracle", but in fact chosen because Yahoo's founders liked the word's meaning of "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth" (taken fromJonathan Swift's bookGulliver's Travels).[21]The distress call "pan-pan"is commonly stated to mean" possible assistance needed ", whereas it is in fact derived from the French wordpanne,meaning 'breakdown'.[22]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"Backronym – Definition of backronym in English by Oxford Dictionaries".Oxford Dictionaries – English.Archived fromthe originalon March 1, 2019.
  2. ^ "Acronym".Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on 28 October 2006.Retrieved2006-11-15.
  3. ^ NASA."RADAR means:RadioDetectionandRanging ".Nasa Explores.Archived fromthe originalon 2004-01-28.
  4. ^"AmberAdvocate.org: AMBER Alert history"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 2022-10-09.
  5. ^"AMBER Alert – America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response".Amberalert.gov. 2007-11-01.Archivedfrom the original on 27 July 2010.Retrieved2010-07-08.
  6. ^"The Virginia Apgar Papers - Obstetric Anesthesia and a Scorecard for Newborns, 1949-1958".U.S. National Library of Medicine, NIH.Archivedfrom the original on 2009-01-13.Retrieved2008-11-18.
  7. ^Official, ACBL (8 November 2023)."ACBL Battles Online Cheating with EDGAR".Bridge Winners.Archivedfrom the original on November 15, 2023.RetrievedNovember 15,2023.
  8. ^"The CARES Act Works for All Americans".U.S. Department of the Treasury.Archivedfrom the original on 2020-10-01.Retrieved2020-10-02.
  9. ^McConnell, Mitch (2020-06-03)."S.3548 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): CARES Act".congress.gov.Archivedfrom the original on 2020-10-02.Retrieved2020-10-02.
  10. ^"The art of the 'backronym'".Roll Call.July 28, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on January 24, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 24,2022.
  11. ^Bump, Philip (August 2, 2013)."All the Silly Legislative Acronyms Congress Came Up with This Year".The Atlantic.Archivedfrom the original on January 24, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 24,2022.
  12. ^Sheidlower, Jesse(2009).The F-Word.New York: Oxford University Press US.ISBN978-0-19-539311-8.
  13. ^ Quinion, Michael (2005).Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths.Penguin.ISBN0-14-101223-4.;published in the US as Quinion, Michael (2006).Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds.HarperCollins.ISBN0-06-085153-8.
  14. ^"posh,adj.andn.".Oxford English Dictionary.Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2009.
  15. ^"chav".Wiktionary.The Wikimedia Foundation. 2023.
  16. ^Bennett, Joe (30 April 2012)."Everything you ever wanted to know about the word 'chav'".Ideas Lab Predictor Podcast, University of Birmingham.Archivedfrom the original on 2023-09-29.Retrieved2023-10-13.
  17. ^Rohrer, Finlo (13 June 2008)."Save our SOS".BBC News Magazine.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-12-02.Retrieved2012-07-10.
  18. ^Brunner, Conrad (2004).All Day I Dream About Sport: The Story of the Adidas Brand.Great Brand Stories. London: Cyan.ISBN1-904879-12-8.
  19. ^"The wiki principle".The Economist.2006-04-20.Archivedfrom the original on 7 October 2006.Retrieved2006-11-15.
  20. ^"wiki".Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on 6 December 2006.Retrieved2006-11-15.
  21. ^"The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started..."Yahoo.2001. Archived fromthe originalon 29 November 2001.Retrieved8 November2015.
  22. ^Green, Eli (18 January 2023)."Qantas flight QF144 lands safely at Sydney Airport after midair mayday call".news.au.Archivedfrom the original on 18 January 2023.Retrieved18 January2023.
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