alphabet soup (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

_LA Times_ Jan 31 1935 sec II p 4 col 3
"Some of our tax spending geniuses designed an Alphabet Soup for
grownups; called N.R.A., F.E.R.A., P.W.A., A.A.A., etc. until we can't
remember them all."

_Washington Post_ Mar 3 1943 p 8 col 5
"El Patio was an alphabet soup of parties the other eve.  There were
groups from OPA, WPB, ODT, WMC and OWI."


OED has 1907 for the edible alphabet soup

The Atchison Champion, (Atchison, KS) Friday, March 11, 1892; pg. 5; col
D
"You was eating the letters in your soup, ho! ho!  That's alphabet soup
-- see?"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 7:06 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: alphabet soup
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: alphabet soup
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> -
>
> I first encountered this sense as applied to the proliferation of new
> Federal agencies
> during the New Deal.
>
> In other words, decades ago.
>
> JL
> On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 1:23 AM, Paul Frank
<paulfrank at post.harvard.edu>wro=
> te:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
> > Subject:      alphabet soup
> >
> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-=
> ------
> >
> > The OED says that alphabet soup means "a clear soup containing
pieces of
> > paste or biscuit shaped like letters of the alphabet," which it
does.
> > But more often these days, it means something quite different:
> >
> > Members of the Treasury select committee have expressed their
concern at
> > an "alphabet soup" of new regulators.
> >  FT Adviser, 30 Nov 2010
> >
> > A Guide to the Alphabet Soup of Fed Bailout Programs=E2=80=8E
> >  Wall Street Journal, 1 Dec 2010
> >
> > The annual celebration of motorcycles and the folks who love to ride
> > them boasts an alphabet soup of bikes from BMW to Yamaha and most
> > manufacturers in between, as well as stunts from Jason Britton's
Team No
> > Limit and workshops for riders who like to wrench.
> >  LA Times, 16 Dec 2010
> >
> > Paul
> > --
> >
> > Paul Frank
> > Translator
> > Chinese, German, French, Italian > English
> > Espace de l'Europe 16
> > Neuch=C3=A2tel, Switzerland
> > paulfrank at bfs.admin.ch
> > paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
truth."
>
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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