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<P>Correction-In my original message I wrote 1926 for WWII. This should have been WWI then used again in WWII 1939. </P>
<P>Also I am looking for a source to help back up the word "foobar" becoming a backronym FUBAR. Anyone have suggestions?<BR></P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Laurence Horn <LAURENCE.HORN@YALE.EDU>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
<DIV></DIV>>To: ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: German Words 1939-45
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Fri, 2 May 2003 10:20:40 -0400
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>At 9:58 PM -0400 5/1/03, Fred Shapiro wrote:
<DIV></DIV>>>On Thu, 1 May 2003, Ray Villegas wrote:
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>> In reseaching the German word "flak" I found that it is an
<DIV></DIV>>>>acronym
<DIV></DIV>>>> "Flugabwehrkannone"=Air Defense Gun. I have found that there
<DIV></DIV>>>>is another
<DIV></DIV>>>> spelling for it as well which is "FLiegerAbwehrKanonen." It was
<DIV></DIV>>>>used in
<DIV></DIV>>>> Germany first during WWII, 1926, and then again in 1939.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>The 1926 war must have been WW1.5.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Hah. The first English cite in the OED is from Jane's Fighting
<DIV></DIV>>Ships, 1938, and the etymology is given there as <
<DIV></DIV>>Fliegerabwehrkanone 'pilot-defence gun'. That still predates WWII
<DIV></DIV>>slightly.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>> There is another acronym that was popular as well. FUBAR which
<DIV></DIV>>>>comes from
<DIV></DIV>>>> combining foo and bar and was used by the GIs in WWII meaning
<DIV></DIV>>>>F.U Beyond
<DIV></DIV>>>> All Repair.( I will leave the meaning of the first part to the
<DIV></DIV>>>> imagination). It is derived from the German word "furchtbar"
<DIV></DIV>>>>which means
<DIV></DIV>>>> terrible. It is considered to be a backronym.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>Is there any evidence for the backronymic etymology?
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>Seems unlikely, given the range of military acronyms related to it,
<DIV></DIV>>e.g. "SNAFU", which don't lend themselves to German etymologies.
<DIV></DIV>>Jesse has a bunch of these in his _The F Word_.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Larry
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