New Faux Acronym

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ugggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

  JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: New Faux Acronym
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On 6/3/06, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> Well, it's actually ten years old or more, but it seems "modern as today" :
>
> 1996 "military slang" (Usenet: alt.folklore.military)
(http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.military/msg/d4c070fa058e80dd) :
> "Infantry - Grunt (GRound Unit, Not Trainable)."

So then a POG (pogue) must be a second-order etymythoacronym... a
Person Other than GRound-Unit-Not-Trainable!

Other expansions for "GRUNT" culled from Google and Usenet:

Ground Roving Unit Not Trainable
Ground Roving Unit Non Trainable
Ground Replaceable Unit Not Trainable
Ground Reconnaissance Unit Not Trainable
Ground Recon Unit Non Trainable
Ground Recon Unit Non Tracked
Ground Replacement Usually Not Trainable
Government Reject Unfit for Normal Training
Government Reject Unsuitable for Normal Training
Government Reject Unfit for Naval Training
Government Reject Under Naval Training
Government Recruit Unfit for Normal Training
God's Really Ugly Neanderthal Thug(s)


--Ben Zimmer

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