prion

[Jonathan Lighter]

So it's not exactly an acronym. More like the less formal ways they use to
dream up names for new products whose function and significance were once
unimaginable.

OK, it's a stretch, but there is a similarity of approach.

JL




On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: prion
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Aug 8, 2009, at 7:38 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:
>
> > "proteinaceous infectious particle," I believe:
>
> so says the OED (draft entry June 2008).
>
> > A catchy enough name in itself! Those are protein molecules that
> > replicate though apparently they contain no nucleic acids.
> >
> > --Charlie
> >
> >> Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 17:45:28 -0400
> >> From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject: Re: prion
> >>
> >> Renamed from what?
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 4:40 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> >>>
> >>> Pondering the (probable) proverb "Rename it and claim it," I
> >>> encountered a limerick that is said to have satirized Stanley B.
> >>> Prusiner's coining of the term _prion_ (OED n.2). It appears in
> >>> Kurt Link, _Understanding New, Resurgent, and Resistant Diseases_
> >>> (Westport CT: Praeger, 2007) 163 (endnote 4; the limerick is
> >>> printed as prose):  "There was a young Turk named Stan who
> >>> embarked on a devious plan. 'If I simply rename it, I'm sure I can
> >>> claim it,' said Stan as he pondered his scam."
>
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