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

[Laurence Horn]

"Unidentified anomalous phenomenon" is drifting dangerously in the
direction of Don DeLillo's "airborne toxic event" ("White Noise", 1985).

LH

On Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 10:12 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> As mentioned in my Feb. 16, 2023 WSJ column (https://on.wsj.com/3Edux7t):
>
> "In the latest terminological twist, NASA has modified 'UAP' to stand for a
> slightly different phrase: 'unidentified anomalous phenomena.'"
>
> Linking to:
>
>
> https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-announces-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-study-team-members/
>
> Also mentioned in my Twitter thread:
>
> https://twitter.com/bgzimmer/status/1626924874504495104
>
> On Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 7:36 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Now it means "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon":
> > https://www.foxnews.com/us/mosul-orb-us-silent-ufo-filmed-military-iraq
> >
> > This may have to do with the 2022 creation of the Pentagon’s "All-domain
> > Anomaly Resolution Office," an expansion of the "Airborne Object
> > Identification and Management Group":
> >
> >
> https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3100053/dod-announces-the-establishment-of-the-all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office/
> >
> > There's the signpost up ahead....
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 16, 2023 at 12:23 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > To judge from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's discussion with Jake Tapper on
> > > CNN's "State of the Union" today, there's a strong connotational
> > difference
> > > between "UAP" and "UFO."
> > >
> > > "UFO" implies "might well be from outer space." "UAP" implies "might
> well
> > > be Russian or Chinese." Gillibrand cited 171 cases reviewed by DoD in
> the
> > > past two years that have resisted specialist analysis.
> > >
> > > She referred to the need to know "what these aircraft are" and whether
> > > we're being spied on "by our adversaries."
> > >
> > > Yet whether UFO or UAP, the "unidentified" remain unidentified.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 4:39 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Not in my existing thread. I must have trashed it somehow.
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >> On Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 3:39 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Garson provided that cite info in the original thread in October:
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-October/162459.html
> > >>>
> > >>> Also included in my February Twitter thread (with a hat tip to
> Garson):
> > >>>
> > >>> https://twitter.com/bgzimmer/status/1626924403622543362
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> On Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 3:31 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >>> >
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> > Update: the 1958 "UAP" is  from Avram Davidson's story, "The
> Grantha
> > >>> > Sighting," in the April, 1958, ish of _Fantasy and Science
> Fiction_,
> > >>> p. 58:
> > >>> >
> > >>> >
> > >>> >
> > >>>
> >
> https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v014n04_1958-04_PDF/page/n47/mode/2up?q=sightings
> > >>> >
> > >>> > JL
> > >>> >
> > >>> > On Sun, Oct 23, 2022 at 10:33 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> > >>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > >>> > wrote:
> > >>> >
> > >>> > > Thanks, Garson.  And many thanks for ID'ing the month and page.
> > >>> > >
> > >>> > > I was a saucer buff from 1965 to the late '70s and read all I
> could
> > >>> find
> > >>> > > on the subject that wasn't totally screwball. I must confess,
> > though,
> > >>> > that
> > >>> > > when the Navy used "UAP" when it released UFO footage in 2017,
> the
> > >>> acro
> > >>> > > seemed novel.
> > >>> > >
> > >>> > > Of course, "aerial phenomenon" is a more objective description
> than
> > >>> > > "flying object."
> > >>> > >
> > >>> > > In my day, the acronym was so rarely employed that it never fully
> > >>> > > registered on me. Rereading some of the exx. above, I'm sure I'd
> > have
> > >>> > > thought it no more than a marginal eccentricity. It doesn't seem
> to
> > >>> > appear,
> > >>> > > for example, in Ron Story's extensive _UFO Encyclopedia_ (1980).
> > >>> > >
> > >>> > > It seems likely that Davidson (a prominent sf writer) was the
> > >>> originator.
> > >>> > >
> > >>> > >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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