[Ads-l] WTF > WT, euphemistic acronym clipping

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jun 25 20:41:49 UTC 2017


See also the Wisconsin Tourism Federation, which changed its name to the
Tourism Federation of Wisconsin.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1767
https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/what-the-not-quite-fuck/

(I mention the World Taekwondo name change in the comments on the latter
post.)

On Sun, Jun 25, 2017 at 3:15 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> <<  World Taekwondo Federation changes name over 'negative connotations' >>
>
>      The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has changed its name to World
> Taekwondo because of the "negative connotations" associated with its
> initials.
>      The organisation had used the previous name since it was established
> in 1973.
>      However, it felt in the "digital age" the slang of the old
> abbreviation was "unrelated to our organisation and so it was important
> that we rebranded to better engage with our fans".
>      The change was made before the start of the 2017 World Taekwondo
> Championships.
>      The event is taking place in Muju, South Korea.
>      "World Taekwondo is distinctive and simple to understand and
> reinforces the global nature of our sport," said World Taekwondo president
> Choue Chung-won.
>      "Our vision is taekwondo for all and as World Taekwondo we are
> confident we can build on our success to date and achieve that vision."
>
> http://www.bbc.com/sport/taekwondo/40391326     24 June 2017
>
>
>

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