[Ads-l] Earliest True Acronym

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'm wondering if the existence of "SCOTUS" in 1879 tells us much about
spoken acronyms..

It was a written shorthand form used occasionally by a very small
population (telegraphers). Some of them may have pronounced it as  an
acronym on the rare occasions it would be pronounced, but it seems equally
likely that it was pronounced as "the Supreme Court."

Consider:

1902 _Atlanta Journal_ (Jan. 25) Sec. II 3: To obviate so much work [in
transmitting numerous dots and dashes], a code has been adopted, sometimes
a single letter meaning as much as two words. In the Phillips code, which
is now used in transmitting the Associated Press report used by The
Journal, many short cuts are taken.  The word "Potus" does not mean Potus.
Translated it reads: "The President of the United States." "Cor" means
"correction." [Etc.]

1902 _Duluth News Tribune_ (Aug. 31) 10: An idea of what the Phillips'
[sic] code is can be obtained from  the following example: t potus h kmd w
t scotus, hag wh, osn to t US Steel ogn mab exd.

 But here is a very unusual, very early ex. of "[the] POTUS" as a true
acronym, or so it would seem:

1894 _Philadelphia Inquirer_ (Jan. 17) 5 [quoting remarks of Sen. Hoar]:
The President of the United States....There is one point of sympathy
between the potus and the Queen of Hawaii....The potus disregards the
[national] Constitution [too].

JL

On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 8:16 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Refreshing my own memory on the basis of Dave's post, the Morse operator
> may simply have meant that "SNAFU" was a humorous concoction supplementing
> the usual telegraphic code and not used in transmissions.
>
> Not implausible.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 8:11 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The "Telegraphic" connection reminds of the time in 1994 when a former
>> telegraph operator assured me that he and others had idly and jocularly
>> used "SNAFU" in Morse shortly before WW2.
>>
>> I've never been able to confirm this.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 7:59 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>>> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>> Sent: Thursday, December 2, 2010 2:32 PM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Subject: Earliest Acronym
>>>
>>> I apologize if someone else has already pointed this out, but Bill's
>>> second citation below is very significant in that it may establish the
>>> claim that SCOTUS is the earliest known acronym in the English language
>>> (although, depending on the precise definition of "acronym," there are some
>>> other abbreviations in the 1879 Phillips Telegraphic Code that may be tied
>>> with SCOTUS for this honor).
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>> Mullins, Bill AMRDEC [Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL]
>>> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 11:02 AM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: Antedating SCOTUS (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>>
>>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> Caveats: NONE
>>>
>>>
>>> Walter P. Phillips _The Phillips Telegraphic Code for the Rapid
>>> Transmission by Telegraph_ Wash, DC:  Gibson Brothers, 1879.
>>>
>>>
>>> p. 59 col 2:
>>> "Pot -- President of the."
>>>
>>> p. 65 col 2:
>>> "Scotus -- Supreme Court of the United States"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> > -----Original Message-----
>>> > From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>>> > Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 9:27 AM
>>> > To: 'American Dialect Society'
>>> > Subject: Antedating SCOTUS (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>> >
>>> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> > Caveats: NONE
>>> >
>>> > _Milwaukee [WI] Sentinel_ 12/6/1891, p 10 col 1 [Gale 19th Cent
>>> newspapers]
>>> >
>>> > "For instance, the receiver's sounder will tick out the letters
>>> "scotus."
>>> > There is no meaning in this combination of letters, but the operator
>>> gets a
>>> > hustle upon himself as soon as he hears it and writes down, "the
>>> Supreme court
>>> > of the United states." "
>>> >
>>> > _Charlotte [NC] Observer_ 10/18/1892 p 1 col 4 [GenealogyBank]
>>> >
>>> > "The case then came to Scotus.  The case was argued last Tuesday."
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > >
>>> > > A slightly earlier cite is found at America's GenealogyBank.
>>> > > 14 April 1895, _Birmingham(AL) Age-Herald_ 21/3
>>> > >
>>> > > Talking about the United Press "code" in use for about seven years
>>> on the
>>> > > telegraph-to-newspaper circuit.
>>> > >
>>> > > "In addition the more frequent phrases are skeletonized to the limit
>>> of
>>> > > safety.  "Scotus" is "supreme court of the United States;" "potus,"
>>> > > "president of the United States;"
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> > Caveats: NONE
>>> >
>>>
>>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> Caveats: NONE
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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