[Ads-l] UAP - unidentified aerial phenomena (or phenomenon)

[Jonathan Lighter]

[1950 _Air Force_ (Feb.) 17: A probable explanation for many reports of
unidentified aerial phenomena is that the object is really something quite
familiar, such as an aircraft, a light, or a bird .]

[1952_U.S. Coast Guard Bulletin_  (Sept.) 53:  A photograph which was
officially described as "unidentified aerial phenomena" was taken by a
21-year-old Coast Guard photographer, and was released from Headquarters.]

1958 _The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction_ [Google Books, month not
given, hard copy not checked]: The same people who didn't believe Columbus.
..are now...scornful of all the various and innumerable U.A.P. sightings.

[1960  _Air Force and Space Digest_ ( Oct.) 20:  "No unidentified aerial
phenomena," USAF said, "gave any indication of a threat to the United
States."]

1966 Roger A. MacGowan & Frederick Ira Ordway _Intelligence in the
Universe_   (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall) 290: These are
variously called unidentified flying objects (UFO) [or] unidentified aerial
phenomena (UAP). Ibid. 308: Stellar mirages are sometimes a source for an
[sic] UAP report.

1968 George W. Earley _Encounters with Aliens_ (Los Angeles: Sherbourne
Press) 13: The terms "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (UAP) and
"Unidentified Aerial Object" (UAO) have also been used, but UFO is the
generally accepted term.

1970 Ivan T. Sanderson _Invisible Residents_  (New York: World) 8: The USAF
some time back divided "UFOs" into two distinct categories: UAPs, or
Unexplained Aerial Phenomena; and UAOs, or unidentified aerial objects.

1976 Paris Flammonde _UFO Exist!_   (N.Y.: Putnam) 41: the primary
arguments for the existence of “flying saucers" - meaning an intelligently
controlled craft  generally assumed to be extraterrestrial - are the early
sources of many accounts of UAO, UAP, UFO, and like curiosities.

1978 Norman J. Briazack & Simon Mennick _UFO Guidebook_  (Secaucus, N.J.:
Carol)  222:
UAP. Acronym for either Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or Unexplained Aerial
Phenomena. This official Air Force designation refers exclusively to that
particular class of UFO sightings in which only light manifestations or
phenomena were visible. A UAP may be a natural phenomenon and thus may
eventually be explainable without reliance on the extraterrestrial origin
theory.

1983 _New Scientist_ (Feb. 10) 380: To distinguish such phenomena from more
dubious data, we propose that they should be renamed "UAPs," for
unidentified atmospheric phenomena.

Etc., etc.

On Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 2:23 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The acronym in the subject line might illustrate the euphemism treadmill:
> flying saucer ==> UFO ==> UAP
>
> https://twitter.com/GadiNBC/status/1583436360890753024
>
> [Begin tweet information]
> Gadi Schwartz @GadiNBC
> 8:33 AM · Oct 21, 2022
> Are you a commercial or private pilot that has seen UAP's flying in
> racetrack patterns in the direction of the Big Dipper? My DM's are
> open. CC #ufoTwitter
> https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1583429043785170944
> [End tweet information]
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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