[Ads-l] Earliest True Acronym

[Jesse Sheidlower]

It's an initialism, not an acronym. It's pronounced as the separate letters "O" and "K", not as a monosyllabic word like the tree "oak".

Jesse Sheidlower

On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 04:06:01PM +0000, Geoffrey Nathan wrote:
> While I don't want to start a fight here, isn't the proposed etymology
> of OK as being from the abbreviation of 'Old Kinderhook' an example
> of an early pronounced acronym? It dates to the 1830's.
> 
> 
> 
> Geoffrey S. Nathan
> WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
> Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
> http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/
> 
> geoffnathan at wayne.edu
> 
> Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks.
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> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2024 7:59 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Earliest True Acronym
> 
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> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Earliest True Acronym
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> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapir=
> o, 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, de=
> pending on the precise definition of "acronym," there are some other abbrev=
> iations 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 Mullin=
> s, 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
> 
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