ex-acronyms

[Baker, John]

        One of the oddest examples I've seen is the ABA Insurance
Association.  Now, "ABA," by itself, is not an orphan initialism:  It
stands for the American Bankers Association, the largest trade
association for banks.  The ABA Insurance Association was a sort of
subsidiary trade association, formed by the ABA for banks that sell
insurance (or want to do so, but face legal restrictions).  "ABA" in its
name could not be spelled out, or you would have gotten the more or less
nonsensical "American Bankers Association Insurance Association."  The
ABA Insurance Association subsequently merged with the Association of
Banks in Insurance to form the American Bankers Insurance Association
(ABIA, not yet an orphan initialism).


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Karl Hagen
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 3:55 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: ex-acronyms

Also note SAT (once "Scholastic Aptitude Test" then "Scholastic
Assessment Test", now another empty initialism), which the makers are
now calling the "SAT Reasoning Test" in full. That strikes me as being a
bit like "El Alamein" or "the hoi polloi", in that the fossilized
element is reduplicated.

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