Apronyms
Apronyms => Apronym Discussion => Topic started by: Tony on December 12, 2000, 11:11:13 AM
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The title is an entry in Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable, a book I treated myself to with a recent book-token. The book aims to update the original idea by Dr E Cobham Brewer, who listed the origins and allusions behind many wellknown phrases.
Anyway - the new book has an entry "Acronymic aptness" and the text runs as follows:-
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A tendency arose in the 20th century for the names of certain organizations , movements, charities and so on to spell out a meaningful or punning acronym rather than simply a meaningless word. The following are some examples current at the end of the century:
ADAPT: Access for Disabled People to Art Today
CAMPFIRE:Communal Area Management Programmes For Industrial Resources
CHIME: Churches' Initiative in Musical Education
EUREKA: European Research Cooperation Agency
FOCUS: Financial Outstation Central Unified System
HOLMES: Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (a police computer)
SEALS: Sea, Air and Land Service
SERENDIP: Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations
SMART: Special Measures Action Reform Team
STEP: Special Temporary Employment Programme
TRACE: test equipment for rapid automatic checkout and evaluation
Equally creative are the humorous reinterpretations of acronymic names of airlines, as:
Alitalia: always late in take-off, always late in arrival
BOAC: better on a camel
QANTAS: quite a nice trip, all survived
SABENA: such a bloody experience, never again
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Well, some are alright, but most are absolutely awful. Any comments?
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The title of the book suggests something normal, but going from the acronyms it's obviously a piss-take?
Ed.
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Naturally I saw your message soon after it was posted (it just wouldn't do to not check up on my own forums) but didn't really have much to say about it. I agree that several of them are awful... particularly the ADAPT one - it seems to me that the D should stand for Dyslexic since they swapped a few letters in the acronym. I liked the airline ones at the end though.
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Long, long ago, so long ago that nobody remembered it when the 'Meaningful Acronyms' thread began, Tony wrote:
The title is an entry in Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable, a book I treated myself to with a recent book-token. The book aims to update the original idea by Dr E Cobham Brewer, who listed the origins and allusions behind many wellknown phrases.
Anyway - the new book has an entry "Acronymic aptness" and the text runs as follows:-
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A tendency arose in the 20th century for the names of certain organizations , movements, charities and so on to spell out a meaningful or punning acronym rather than simply a meaningless word.
Perhaps we should write to the editor of this book and inform them that these meaningful or punning acronyms are called apronyms.
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Angela wrote:
>> The title is an entry in Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable...
>> A tendency arose in the 20th century for the names of certain organizations , movements, charities and so on to spell out a meaningful or punning acronym rather than simply a meaningless word.
> Perhaps we should write to the editor of this book and inform them that these meaningful or punning acronyms are called apronyms.
A good idea, and I will look into it. But I don't know how often the book is revised/reissued.
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I am searching for an acronym or apronym for "SABATICAL." It must be biblically meaningful.