SPUD acroetymythology (1927)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 06:34:42 -0700, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>It's true; I forgot that one.  But isn't there an enormous gap between
>"N.E.W.S" and whatever comes next ?  Acronymic thinking, according to ye
>hoary experts, is supposed to be a product chiefly of the WW I era.

The only other pre-20th-century examples that I know of are FAD ("for a
day") and TIP ("to insure promptness")...

-----
Los Angeles Times, Sep 10, 1895, p. 6/2
A recently-published article on the derivation of the word "fad" speaks of
it as being of Welsh origin, giving "ffedd" as the root word. A
correspondent of the New York Tribune writes on the subject: "The word
'fad' is a manufacured word, not given by Worcester. It has been in use
only a short time, comparatively, and while it may be derived from the
Welsh it is more probable that it is made from the initial letters of the
words 'for a day.' The word 'tip' originated, it is said, in that way. The
story goest that in an old time English tavern a receptacle for small coin
was placed in a conspciuous place over which appeared the legend, 'To
insure promptness.' Whatever was placed in the box was given to the
servants. Other taverns followed the example, and soon the three words
were written 'T.I.P.,' everybody knowing what they indicated. Then the
punctuation marks were dropped, and the word 'tip' was born. 'Fad' and
'tip' are of the same class and kind."
-----

This squib was widely circulated in 1895-96 (see Newspaperarchive for
several examples), and it may very well have sparked all the subsequent
acroetymythomania.


--Ben Zimmer