"PIN" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Most of the links you provide below are to graphs which are not complete
on the left (early) side.  In every case I checked, if you changed the
beginning date to one several decades earlier, you'd get more hits that
the original graph did not show.

Apparently Google News Archives defaults to a graph which doesn't
include every citation it finds.

This is not to say, however, that Victor's basic point is wrong -- it
isn't.  All of the acronyms have grown greatly in the last few decades
(probably associated with the growth in marketing the leagues themselves
as brands).

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Victor Steinbok
> Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 5:05 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "PIN"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "PIN"
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> -
>
>   Not only that, but MLB is a fairly recent vintage. I don't recall
ever
> hearing or seeing references to "MLB" prior to the late 1990s--i.e.,
the
> "dotcom era". Checking GNA gives a very vivid graph:
>
> http://bit.ly/9EU41j
>
> To make matters worse, most of the early hits are from documents on
> MLB.com. The graph for "MLB baseball" makes the point even more
obvious:
>
> http://bit.ly/9QUHy8
>
> Compare that distribution to "major leagues baseball" (you extend the
> search range into the early 1900s):
>
> http://bit.ly/bJWnOl
>
> Clearly the Google database is not exhaustive, but it provides a
fairly
> clear view of a cross-section of publications.
>
> In fact, comparing NBA to MLB is also illustrative:
>
> http://bit.ly/99R2fx
> http://bit.ly/cO3QYM
>
> and
>
> http://bit.ly/b7PmJa
>
> Clearly, there is a recent upswing in "NBA basketball" hits, but
that's
> largely due to 1) a similar increase in "NBA" hits, and 2) a gradual
> increase in the number of digital-ready publications available to
> Google. The numbers for "MLB baseball" cannot be explained in the same
> manner.
>
>      VS-)
>
> On 8/12/2010 4:39 PM, Dan Goodman wrote:
> > Jeff Prucher wrote:
> >>> From: Dan Goodman<dsgood at IPHOUSE.COM>
> >>>
> >>> USA Today's tv listings of baseball broadcasts include the phrase
"MLB
> >>> baseball."
> >>>
> >>
> >> That strikes me more as being specific about which league is being
> broadcast (as
> >> opposed to, say, NCAA baseball) than redundant.
> >>
> > MLB = Major League Baseball.    It refers to the National League and
the
> > American League.  Not to one specific league.
> >
> > --
> > Dan Goodman
> > "I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
> > Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
> > Journal dsgood.dreamwidth.org (livejournal.com, insanejournal.com)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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