"Massive" in acronyms

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Dec 4, 2012, at 11:33 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>
>> MMO, MMOG and MMORPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_game) are acronyms I've seen occasionally. This morning, I got an offer for an MOOC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course) and I suspect "massive" may be making its move by making its way into other acronyms as well.
> [End excerpt from Benjamin Barrett]
>
> In September MOOC was mentioned on the ADS list and Ben Zimmer posted
> an early cite antedating the cite given on WordSpy:
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ADS-L;1e1bfee.1209C

Thanks for finding that. I searched for the others in the archives, but not MOOC! In any case, there may be good reason for someone to sleuth out massive's invasion more fully. BB

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