Backronym

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A backronym or bacronym is a type of acronym that begins as an ordinary word, and is later interpreted as an acronym. The word "backronym" is a portmanteau of back and acronym, and was coined in 1983. <ref>Word Spy-Bacronym. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref> The term is also used for a new set of words put to an existing acronym (e.g. "advanced research projects agency" → "arpa" → "address and routing parameters area").

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1 Details
- 1.1 Difference from acronyms
- 1.2 Construction
2 Types
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Details

[edit] Difference from acronyms

An acronym is a word created from the initial letters of a phrase<ref name="acronym">acronym - Definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>: for example, Random Access Memory becomes RAM, pronounced as the word "ram"; and the scientific term LASER (commonly found in such household devices as the laser printer) stems from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation<ref>mpirical companion. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>.

Note the distinction between acronyms and initialisms: strictly speaking, one uses the term acronym only when the initials are pronounced as if they compose an actual word, though the term "backronym" is often used less precisely and applied to back-formed initialisms by those who don't know the proper meaning of acronym.<ref>initialism - Definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref><ref name="acronym"/>

The title of that congressional legislation known as the USA PATRIOT Act contains an initialism ("Uniting and Strengthening America") followed by an acronym ("Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism").<ref>USA PATRIOT Act(H.R. 3162). Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>

[edit] Construction

A backronym is created when one constructs a phrase that has, as its acronym, an existing short word. There are both official and generally serious, as well as unofficial and often humorous, backronyms. When a backronym is peddled as the origin of a word, it is often an example of false etymology; when widely believed, it may have the status of a folk etymology; but more usually it is intended and understood as a joke.

[edit] Types

[edit] Pure

A pure backronym occurs when a sequence of letters is commonly or sometimes facetiously understood to stand for a phrase that had no role in its original conception. Examples are:

Posh, which did not originally stand for "Port Out Starboard Home" (referring to 1st class cabins shaded from the sun on outbound voyages west, and homeward heading voyages east).<ref name='posh'/> The musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang popularised this erroneous etymology, and thereby established what some fancy calling a backronym.
Golf is not an acronym for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden" as has been suggested, (one would hope) only in jest. It is actually derived from the Scottish name for the game, gowf. <ref name='posh'>Quinion, Michael (2005). Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-141-01223-4.; published in the US asQuinion, Michael (2006). Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-060-85153-8.</ref>
Chav has been said to stand for "Council House and Violence", though this is not its etymology but a true backronym.
SOS, the international distress signal, chosen solely for its easy recognizability in Morse code(...---...)<ref>The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ More from Encyclopedia </ref> as drawn up in the International Wireless Telegraph Convention makes no mention that it stands for "save our ship" or even "save our souls"<ref>Berlin International Wireless Telegraph Convention:Novemeber 3, 1906. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>. However, the letters S.O.S are often interpreted to mean "save our ship"<ref name="boatsafe">What Does SOS Stand For? Maritime Distress Signals. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref><ref>Save Our Ship. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref><ref>Bass Fishing Resource Guide - Save Our Ships, Better Yet Your Ship. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>,"save our souls"<ref name="boatsafe"/><ref>WAIS World Affairs Report - SOS! Save Our Souls. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>, or "send out succour"<ref name="boatsafe"/>.
CQD, an older distress signal: "Come Quick, Distress (/Danger/Dammit)." This was used on amateur radio, where "CQ" was a common call.<ref name="boatsafe"/>
Perl is a programming language that now powers many web pages around the world. Created by Larry Wall, it was originally named "PEARL", but since that name was already taken, it was shortened to Perl. The most common backronym is "Practical Extraction and Report Language"<ref name="ebb">Picking Up Perl. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>; however, Larry Wall also gives the other main backronym of Perl, "Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister", equal legitimacy<ref name="ebb"/>.
The word "wiki", from the Hawaiian word meaning "quick"<ref>wiki - Definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>. Since its application to consumer generated media, some have suggested that "wiki" means "What I Know Is".<ref>The wiki principle. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
GI, slang for a U.S. soldier, often thought to stand for "Government Issue" as "G.I." was supposedly stamped on soldiers' equipment. Sometimes thought to stand for "General Infantry", or in Europe for "General Invasion". In fact, the abbreviation "GI" comes from "galvanized iron", GI being used in US Army bookkeeping to describe items such as trash cans made from it. <ref>GI - Definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref><ref>Wordorigins.org:Letter G. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
The Java programming language has been described as "Just Another Vague Acronym".<ref>Cafe Babe? Or, what's in a name?. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
Bimbo has been interpreted to mean "Body impressive, brain optional"<ref>Bimbo - ArticleWorld. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>however there is no mention of this relation in dictionary entries.<ref>bimbo - definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
IBM, "I've been moved", used among IBM employees because of the frequent position changes within the company.<ref>Just another management move at IBM Lotus>. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>

[edit] Replacement

Some backronyms are back-formed by replacing one or more words in an acronym with another, when the original meaning is deemed obsolete, inaccurate, or inappropriate. For example,

RAID, originally "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks", now usually "Redundant Array of Independent Disks". This arose as RAID was originally a way to expand the linear capacity of unreliable commodity hard disk devices while providing extra reliability. Now that the hard disk is standard, "independent" is more appropriate.<ref>RAID definition of RAID in computing dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref>
SPAM luncheon meat, whose name is a portmanteau of "spiced ham" has been unofficially assigned acronyms such as "Specially Processed Assorted Meat" and "Some Parts Are Meat"<ref>Hormel Foods - Glossary - SPAM.</ref>

[edit] Apronym

Many 'backronyms' are apronyms, as the word used as the 'backronym' is relevant to the expanded phrase it stands for<ref>What is an Apronym?.</ref>. The relevance may be either serious or ironic. An example of this is the word "acronym" itself which can be A Clever Representation Of Names You Manufacture. Acronym can also stand for A Concise Reduction of Nomenclature Yielding Mnemonics. Apronyms may be used as a mnemonic device for remembering the underlying word. Many jocular (and often also derogatory) apronyms are created as a form of wordplay. An example of this is the former name for PC Card, PCMCIA: People Cannot Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms (it was originally an initialism for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association), or the numerous backronyms constructed by conservative groups for the ACLU (e.g. Atheists Communists Liberals Unite, Anti-Christian Legislation Union, Anti-Civil Liberties Union) or PETA (e.g., People for the Eating of Tasty Animals, People Embarrassing the Tidewater Area). Similarly, the protocol associated with computer scanners, TWAIN, is often explained as representing 'Thing Without An Interesting Name'. Microsoft's MCSE is sometimes referred to as 'Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert'. Equally, Microsoft's popular Operating System can be rendered 'Will Install Needless Data On Whole System'. Another example of an apronym is found in the end of The Penultimate Peril, in which Justice Strauss is holding an injustice book entitled Odious Lusting After Finance, which both spells the name and defines the character of Count Olaf.

[edit] False

There are also false backronyms, in which letters are commonly, but inaccurately, thought to represent a phrase. Examples are:

A.D., which stands for Anno Domini (Latin: "in the year of the Lord") and counts years since the birth of Jesus. However, many people incorrectly interpret its definition as 'After Death [of Christ]' <ref name="adref">Anno Domini. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref> – commonly assumed because B.C. stands for "Before Christ"<ref name="adref"/>.
R.I.P., an internationally used acronym for Latin Requiescat in pace ("May he rest in peace")<ref>R.I.P - Definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref>, not an English acronym for "Rest in Peace", as often thought, although the Latin and the English phrases have similar meaning and the same initials.
RPG, for Russian Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot ("handheld antitank grenade-launcher"), now used as an abbreviation of "Rocket-Propelled Grenade".<ref>RPG - Rocket Propelled Grenade - Anti-tank Infantry Weapon.</ref>
RSVP does not stand for "Respond to Sender Via Post" but for the French "Répondez s'il vous plaît" which means "Please respond."<ref>RSVP - Definitions from Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref>

KISS (Knights In Satan's Service) <ref>Brothers, Fletcher A. in "The Rock Report", 1987 cites a January 1980 American Photographer</ref>
AC/DC (Anti-Christ/Devil's Children)<ref name="rocknworld">Name Origins - Where did Bands Get There Names?. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref> or (After Christ, the Devil Comes) is a myth created by religious figures. It actually stands for Alternating Current/Direct Current. The band's founders (Angus and Malcolm Young) saw the letters on the back of a sewing machine<ref name="rocknworld"/>; they thought that a name associated with electricity suited their energetic style. (Oddly enough it was also British slang for bisexuals, used much like the term "switch-hitter")
Slayer (Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot). Brothers further claims that this phrase is inscribed in the vinyl of the 'Show No Mercy' LP.<ref>Slayer. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref>

[edit] Recursive

Some 'backronyms' are recursive acronyms like LAME<ref>LAME Ain;t an MP3 Encoder. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref> (LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder) and WINE<ref>Wine HQ - Debunking Wine Myths. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref> (Wine Is Not an Emulator) or the pseudo-acronym JINI. HURD, HIRD of Unix-Replacing Daemons, takes this one step further and has two mutually recursive acronyms.<ref>GNU Hurd. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>

A particularly pleasing recursive acronym, which perhaps should be thought of as a backronym, is "ZEN" standing for zen es nada (Spanish), which is a very zen statement in both its content and (circular) form.

[edit] Offensive

Army stands for "Aren't Really Marines Yet".<ref>Merriman-Webster's Open Dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
Marine stands for 'My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment' or 'Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential'
The Buffalo Bills NFL team is "Boy I Love Losing Superbowls."<ref>The Out Route - Shattering The Culture of Losing. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
MARTA, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, is often referred to as "Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta".<ref>EJRC-MARTA Equity Issues. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>
NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration was jokingly referred to as "Need Another Seven Astronauts", after the 1986 Challenger explosion, in which seven astronauts were killed.<ref>Simons, Elizabeth Radin (October, 1986). "The NASA Joke Cycle: The Astronauts and the Teacher". Journal of Western Folklore 45 (4): 261-277.</ref>
USC, or the University of Southern California, is commonly said to stand for the "University of Spoiled Children" due to the school's high tuition.