A backronym (or bacronym) is a 'reverse acronym', that is a phrase constructed "after the fact" to make an already existing word or words into an acronym.
Backronyms may be invented with humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology. The word is a portmanteau term combining back and acronym, first cited in a 1983 Washington Post column - "A bacronym ... is the 'same as an acronym, except that the words were chosen to fit the letters.' "1
Backronym versus acronym
An "acronym" is a pronounceable word derived from the initial letters of a phrase:2 For example, the word radar comes from "Radio Detection and Ranging".3
By contrast, a backronym is constructed by starting with a word and creating a new phrase using the letters in the word as the initial letters of the words in the phrase. The word then becomes an acronym of the phrase. In this sense, a backronym is the reversal of an acronym; or an acronym that lives on someone's back.
The idea that a backronym is, like an acronym, a pronounceable word, is sometimes broken, even by dictionaries providing examples such as DVD (an initialism)4 and SOS (a representation of the emergency signal used in Morse code).5
Examples
Many backronyms are apronyms, that is, the word itself is relevant to its associated phrase.6 The relevance may be either serious or ironic.
- The word wiki, halved from the Hawaiian phrase "wiki wiki" meaning "quick".7 Since its application to consumer generated media, some have suggested that "wiki" means "What I Know Is".8
Jokes and pejorative meanings
GOLF: Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden
Education
Backronyms can be constructed for educational purposes, for example to form mnemonics so that the new initialism is easier to remember.
An example of such a mnemonic is the Apgar score, used to assess the health of newborn children. The rating system is named after Virginia Apgar, but ten years after the initial publication, the backronym APGAR9 was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: Appearance (skin color), Pulse (heart rate), Grimace (reflex irritability), Activity (muscle tone), and Respiration.
Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step programs have a verbal culture that makes extensive use of backronyms10 They're used as teaching tools, similar to slogans like "one day at a time," or "Let go, let God," but often have an ironic edge.
- GOD = Good Orderly Direction11
- Halt = Hungry Angry Lonely or Tired
- Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real / Forgetting everything is all right / Fuck Everything And Run / Face Everything And Recover
- Slip = Sobriety Losing Its Priority12
- Denial = Don't Even Notice I Am Lying
- Fine = Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional (or) Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
False Acronyms
Sometimes the backronym is so commonly heard, that it is generally but incorrectly believed to have been used in the formation of the word, and amounts to a folk etymology. Examples of these include:
- Adidas has been explained as "All Day I Dream About Sport". The word Adidas actually comes from the nickname of the company's founder, Adi Dassler.13 It was also alternatively backronymed as "All Day I Dream About Sex"14, a backronym popularized by the band Korn, who recorded a song A.D.I.D.A.S.. In Spanish, a popular and sarcastic backronym for Adidas is "Asociación De Idiotas Dispuestos A Superarse" ("Association Of Idiots Willing To Improve").15
- Kiss is simply the name of the band, but an urban legend developed that it spells "Knights In Satan's Service".16
- Perl does not stand for Practical Extraction and Report Language (although the phrase appears in "Perl documentation".) According to "Perl documentation"., Perl is not an acronym.
- Posh did not originally stand for "Port Out, Starboard Home" (referring to 1st class cabins shaded from the sun on outbound voyages east, and homeward heading voyages west).17 The musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang popularised this erroneous etymology.17
- Golf is not an acronym for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden" as has been suggested. It is actually derived from the old Scots name for the game, gowf. This word may, in turn, be related to the Dutch word kolf, meaning "bat", or "club", and the Dutch sport called Kolven.17
- Ping does not stand for "Packet InterNet Grouper", "Packet InterNet Groper", "Packet InterNet Gopher" or any such phrase. The name is merely a reference to sonar.18
- Fuck, contrary to urban legends, does not stand for "Fornication Under Consent of King" or "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge." The word seems to have derived from Low German or Dutch as early as the 14th century.19
- Glitch, has been backronymed to "Glaring Little Item That Causes Headaches" but in fact is derived from the German glitschig, meaning 'slippery.'
See also
External links
References
- ^ "bacronym". Word Spy. Retrieved on 2008-11-20.
- ^ "Acronym". Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.
- ^ "RADAR means: Radio Detection and Ranging". Nasa Explores. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
- ^ "Backronym Definition". PC Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
- ^ "Acronym". WhatIs.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
- ^ "What is an Apronym?". Anronyms.com.
- ^ "wiki - Definitions from Dictionary.com". Retrieved on 2006-11-15.
- ^ "The wiki principle". Retrieved on 2006-11-15.
- ^ "The Virginia Apgar Papers - Obstetric Anesthesia and a Scorecard for Newborns, 1949-1958". U.S. National Library of Medicine, NIH. Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
- ^ For a list of common Backronyms and slogans "SoberRecoveryForum". Retrieved on 2008-07-08.
- ^ Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly: Volume: 10 Issue: 1/2, ISSN: 0734-7324 Pub Date: 8/6/1993 "Working the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous with a Client A Counseling Opportunity" Dan L. Thompson PhD
- ^ "Keep Coming Back: Humor and Wisdom for Living and Loving Recovery by Meiji Stewart Google Books Result". Retrieved on 2008-07-08.
- ^ All Day I Dream About Sport: The Story of the Adidas Brand, ISBN 1904879128
- ^ "Urban Legends References Pages: Adidas". Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
- ^ "Ludoacronimia". Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
- ^ Brothers, Fletcher A. in "The Rock Report", 1987 cites a January 1980 American Photographer article as his source.
- ^ a b c Quinion, Michael (2005). Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-101223-4. ; published in the US as Quinion, Michael (2006). Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-085153-8.
- ^ "The Story of Ping".
- ^ , http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-f-word.htm
