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

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/9/2011 07:52 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>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 "swag," 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's
>plunder, from 1794; it only recently has been interpreted as an
>acronym for "stuff we all get."

I thought it was a euphemism for "software wild-a-- guess."

Joel


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

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