Backronym

[Ben Zimmer]

On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 9:51 PM, Fred Shapiro 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."

Earlier terms for the same phenomenon are "prefabricated acronym"
(Ellen T. Crowley and Robert C. Thomas, _Acronyms and Initialisms
Dictionary_, 1970) and -- as suggested by the Wordspy entry that
Wikipedia cites -- "reverse acronym" (Thomas Pyles, _The Origins and
Development of the English Language_ 2nd ed., 1971).  Both are noted
in John Algeo's article, "The Acronym and Its Congeners" (LACUS Forum
1974).

Neither are as snappy as "bac(k)ronym," of course.

--bgz


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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