Backronym

[Jesse Sheidlower]

We're tracking it and have various examples, but haven't
drafted an entry for it yet.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Sat, Nov 06, 2010 at 09:51:14PM -0400, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> Does Jesse know whether the OED is likely to include _backronym_ in the new edition?  There are 46,000 Google hits.  Wikipedia says the following:
>
> A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed after the fact to make an existing word or words match an acronym. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology.
>
> The word is a portmanteau of backward and acronym, and has been defined as a "reverse acronym".[1] Its earliest known citation in print is as "bacronym" in the November 1983 edition of the Washington Post monthly neologism contest. The newspaper quoted winning reader "Meredith G. Williams of Potomac" defining it as the "same as an acronym, except that the words were chosen to fit the letters."
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org