[Ads-l] Earliest True Acronym

[Laurence Horn]

Oops, that’s what I get for reading the posts in the wrong order.  What he said.

> On Jan 26, 2024, at 11:09 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:
> 
> 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.
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> 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
>> 
>> [EXTERNAL]
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Earliest True Acronym
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> 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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> 
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