#176753 - 05/08/08 11:52 PM
Happy Birthday SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!
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The Pook
addict
Registered: 02/20/08
Posts: 468
Loc: Tasmania
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It being the 30th anniversary of the first email spam, I thought I'd read about its history. Fascinating really. Did you know it's now ten years since the word first appeared in the OED with its electronic meaning?! Does that make you feel old?
History of SPAM
This page also led me to a lovely neologism - backronym/bacronym (or retronym) - Backronym
Then there is the real thing of course, which is also very amusing: Spam itself
...including this lady who must come from Jackieville, where Spam has two syllables: Spayam
Edited by The Pook (05/09/08 12:09 AM)
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#176786 - 05/09/08 06:24 PM
Re: Happy Birthday SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!
[Re: tsuwm]
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Faldage
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 11418
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Yeah, I never heard it used that way, so it must be wrong. I suppose if anyone can find it used that way in the wild.
Addendum:
Wikipedia has a list of retronyms. Not one of them fits the disputed definition.
Edited by Faldage (05/09/08 06:34 PM)
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#176803 - 05/09/08 11:33 PM
Re: Happy Birthday SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!
[Re: The Pook]
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tsuwm
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 8577
Loc: this too shall pass
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>more a matter of opinion more than fact.
in this case I fear that it's just poor research. if you look at the reference for the re-engineered acronym def'n, it merely cites one guy who (I'd say incorrectly) used it that way. OTOH the "authority" here is the fellow who originally coined it - he better than most knows what he meant. "The term was coined by Frank Mankiewicz[1] and popularized by William Safire[2] in 1980 in The New York Times."
here's the link to Safire's column.
I don't wiki myself, but there's the real deal, and here's Quinion's take, as well.
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#176805 - 05/09/08 11:56 PM
Re: Happy Birthday SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!
[Re: tsuwm]
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The Pook
addict
Registered: 02/20/08
Posts: 468
Loc: Tasmania
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It still seems to me that a bacronym is a kind of retronym. Similar concept, just applied to acronyms instead of phrases (or more usually adjective-noun combinations). I think bacronym will become accepted as a subset of retronym. No reason it shouldn't. In fact, it raises the interesting possibility that if the definition of retronym is expanded or broadened, that retronym may itself become retronymised. It could become a non-acronymic retronym. 
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#176815 - 05/10/08 01:19 PM
Re: Happy Birthday SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!
[Re: The Pook]
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Myridon
addict
Registered: 10/24/05
Posts: 439
Loc: Dallas, TX
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I'd like to hear your reasoning behind deciding that the two things are similar.
Retronym = At one time, all guitars were not electric. Some one invents an electric guitar. For a while, you have guitars and "electric guitars". At a later time, guitar comes to mean "electric guitar", so you have guitars and "acoustic guitars" instead.
Backronym = The Pook means The Person Of Obscure Knowledge. (unless I guessed that right ;-) ).
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