|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
A nifty word, new to me, that is used a lot on this page: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?EtymologyOfOkay Succinct and descriptive. Is that a fair cop?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
From the site:
Backro Nym
From the JargonFile entry http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/backronym.html :
[portmanteau of back + acronym] A word interpreted as an acronym that was not originally so intended. This is a special case of what linguists call back formation. Examples are given under recursive acronym (Cygnus), Acme, and mung. Discovering backronyms is a common form of wordplay among hackers.
Wonder if the guy knows what he's talking about?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Jackie, with *paragraphs like this...
"Okay" entered the verbal vocabulary of Nordic Americans. But they didn't write it down, essentially for the same reason as they didn't write down common words like "sweat".
...which cites some reasoning but doesn't offer any... it makes me wonder the same thing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
Well, I wasnae asking for assessments of his scholarship, or lack thereof. All I was asking was what y'all thought of "backronym" as a coinage.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
I like it okay as a coinage, but only a little because its meaning isn't immediately obvious--you have to know the context.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
I immediately thought that the acronym itself was supposed to *read backwards. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
