faux acronym in the N.E.W.S. (or actually the Times)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not always interpreted as "stuff," though no pejoration is intended.

JL

On Sun, Oct 9, 2011 at 7:52 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      faux acronym in the N.E.W.S. (or actually the Times)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Today in the NYT Styles section, =
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/pageoneplus/corrections-october-9.html, =
> this correction appeared:
>
> Because of an editing error, an article on Sept. 25 about acronyms =
> misstated the derivation of the word =93swag,=94 in a reference to gifts =
> given to celebrities at New York Fashion Week. The Oxford English =
> Dictionary dates its first citation, as a term for a thief=92s plunder, =
> from 1794; it only recently has been interpreted as an acronym for =
> =93stuff we all get.=94
>
> The original article can be seen here--
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/fashion/alphabet-soup.html
>
> --but since it's been corrected, I don't know what the exact wording was =
> for the acronymic derivation of "swag".  In any case, I love the =
> euphemism:  the acronymic derivation, postdating the first recorded cite =
> by over 200 years, isn't necessarily wrong or fabricated, it just =
> constitutes a recent interpretation. =20
>
> LH       =20=
>
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