ex-acronyms

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 9/6/06, Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
> On Sep 5, 2006, at 9:19 PM, i wrote:
>
> > ...what about
> > initialisms that have been opacified by institutional fiat?  they're
> > a special case, and might merit their own label.  is there one?
> >
> > opacinym?
>
> a newspaper reporter in texas writes, following up on my LLog posting
> mentioning UMIST, SRI, and Texas A&M: "What is it with these orphan
> initialisms?"
>
> ah, a term.  a good one, too.  no google hits whatsoever.  i'll ask
> him where he got it.

Further orphan initialisms: KFC, IHOP, ESPN, AARP.

The phenomenon is discussed here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2099747/
http://snopes.com/horrors/food/kfc.htm


--Ben Zimmer

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