Acronymic Mockery, Folk Acronyms

Dave Hause dwhause at JOBE.NET
Tue Jun 15 04:26:41 UTC 2010


A few more:
MAC (Military Airlift Command) - Maybe Airplane Come
NAVY - Never Again Volunteer Yourself
NBC (Nuclear, Biological, & Chemical [studies/defense]) - No Body Cares
(went out of vogue in 1990)
BKA (German FBI-equivalent, Bundes Kriminal Amt) - Beamter Keine Ahnung
(officials without ideano clue)
MRE - Meals Rejected by Everyone/Ethiopians
and my all-time favorite coined acronym is FASEG - Fairy Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Godmothers, from the old Journal of Irreproducible
Results, probably about mid-60s.
Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
Waynesville, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Peters" <markpeters33 at YAHOO.COM>

I’m writing a column this week on what I’m calling “Acronymic Mockery,” a
form of folk acronym—specifically, how people are saying that BP really
stands for “Bungled Plugjob,” “Brazen Polluters,” “Beyond Punishment,” etc.

I’m trying to get as many other examples as I can too. I’ve found plenty
involving the CIA, FBI, NRA, and NFL, such as the well-known “No Fun League”
and “People Eating Tasting Animals” (PETA). Any other examples come to mind?
This isn’t really about folk acronyms proposed as etymology, but what the
hell, if there’s a not-so-well-known example, I’d welcome that too.

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