prion

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Aug 8 15:31:22 UTC 2009


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
> -----------------------
> 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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