R: [SEELANGS] The Г in ГУМ

[Luciano Di Cocco]

Reanalyzing acronyms is not rare, even without ideological reasons. DVD
originally stood for Digital Video Disc. When the format was used for other
contents it became Digital Versatile Disc. When the standard became official
no meaning was given, and DVD now officially stands for DVD. I suppose many
interpret the two Ds as Digital and Disc, but the meaning of V is now
obscure.
A communication protocol developed by Microsoft was called SOAP, which
originally stood for Simple Object Access Protocol. When it was adopted as
an industrial standard no meaning was given, possibly because the definition
as "simple" became embarrassing.
A lot of acronyms tend to become words of their own. One of the leading
Italian firms is FIAT (it produces somewhat shacky cars and a lot of other
shacky objects). Originally FIAT stood for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili
Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). Now it is currently written as
Fiat, even in official documents, and is analyzed as a word of its own,
possibly connected with the Latin fiat lux ( ;-) this is a joke).

Luciano Di Cocco

> Considering that BP stands for nothing now and Obama was chastized by
> British Press and British diplomats for uttering the words "British
> Petroleum", this is really nothing.
> 
> AI
--

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------