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Backronym
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A backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word or abbreviation, the abbreviation being an initialism or an acronym. Backronyms may be invented with humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology. The word is a portmanteau term combining back-formation and acronym, coined in 1983 and documented from 1994:
The arrival of coeducation at St. Paul's in 1971 inspired the verb to scope (a foreclipping and conversion of "telescope") and the derived noun scoper, "one who appreciatively ogles the opposite sex." From this process has arisen an unofficial organization named SCOPERS, a reverse acronym, or bacronym, for "Students Concentrating On the Palatable Extremities of the Reciprocal Sex.
-Richard Lederer, Adventures of a Verbivore, 1994
Backronym versus acronym An acronym is a pronounceable word derived from the initial letters of a phrase: For example, the word radar comes from "Radio Detection and Ranging". Letters from the originating phrase are used to construct a pronounceable word. By contrast, a backronym is constructed by starting with a word (or an initialism) and, beginning with the first letter, using each letter to form the next word of the phrase. The word then becomes an acronym or initialism of the newly formed phrase. In this sense, a backronym is the reversal of an acronym.
Since an acronym is defined as a word, and a backronym is constructed from an acronym, it logically follows that the phrase must come from a word. However, this rule is commonly broken, even by dictionaries providing examples such as DVD (an initialism, see image) and SOS (a representation of the emergency signal used in Morse code).
TypesBackronyms can be classified along various types. Note that these types are not all exclusive of each other, that is, a backronym can be mnemonic, pure, and recursive. However, a backronym cannot be both pure and replacement.
ReplacementSome backronyms are back-formed from an initialism or acronym that is an abbreviation with another meaning. For example,
- IBM is the official abbreviation for "International Business Machines", but is sometimes jokingly referred to as "I've been moved", used among many IBM employees because of the frequent position changes within the company.
ApronymMany backronyms are apronyms, that is, the word itself is relevant to its associated phrase.
The relevance may be either serious or ironic. One example is the term BASE jumping, which was coined to signify a parachute jump from one of the bases building, antenna, span, or earth.
Most of the examples in the following sections also count as apronyms.
AnacronymSome backronyms are replacements of other phrases that have become obsolete, either for technological, political or marketing reasons. The result is an anacronym. For example,
- SADD began as "Students Against Driving Drunk" in 1981, but was changed to its present name of "Students Against Destructive Decisions" in 1997 after requests from students themselves to expand the organization's mission.
- ESV, originally, in 1970, Experimental Safety Vehicle. Since 1991, Enhanced Safety of Vehicles.
- RAID, originally meant "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks", and now usually "Redundant Array of Independent Disks". This arose as RAID was originally a way to expand the linear capacity of unreliable commodity hard disk devices while providing extra reliability. Now that the hard disk is standard, "independent" is more appropriate.
- SAT in the US originally meant Scholastic Achievement Test. In 1941, the College Board changed its name to Scholastic Aptitude Test (whereas "achievement" suggests what a student has accomplished, "aptitude" suggests a student's potential). In 1990, the name was changed to Scholastic Assessment Test, and finally in 1994, the initials were officially declared to stand for nothing at all. (To add to the confusion, SAT in the UK still stands for Standard Attainment Test, the examination part of National Curriculum assessments carried out at the ages of 7, 11 and 14.)
- OCLC was named Ohio College Library Center when it was founded in 1967. But in 1981, after it had expanded to include libraries outside Ohio, its name was changed to Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
- DVDs were originally designed as media for audio-visual data, and as such the abbreviation originally stood for "Digital Video Disc", whether or not the medium could carry any data. As the format inevitably came into common use for other data storage, a different semi-official expansion was created, namely "Digital Versatile Disc". However, "DVD" officially does not stand for anything.
- SOAP was originally the acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol. An informal vote for a replacement anacronym took place at a W3C XML Working Group meeting. Candidates included Service Oriented Access Protocol and Simple Open Access Protocol, but "SOAP" without definition was officially adopted.
- GSM, originally from the French "Groupe Spécial Mobile", became Global System for Mobile Communications when the GSM mobile network became increasingly popular around the world.
- PHP, was developed by Rasmus Lerdorf and originally stood for "Personal Home Page", became "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor", a recursive acronym.
FalseWhile not necessarily a type, many backronyms are falsely believed to come from an acronym or initialism that means something else. Unlike anacronyms, these original meanings still hold. Examples include:
- B.C.E. and C.E., which stand for "Before the Common Era" and "of the Common Era", and correspond to the same reference system as do B.C. and A.D. respectively, were created as a religion-neutral alternative to specify the year. People familiar with the meanings of B.C./A.D. sometimes mistake the new initialisms as modern translations of the original initialisms, such as in "the year 570 of the Christian Era.
- R.I.P., an internationally used initialism for the Latin Requiescat in pace ("May he/she rest in peace"). is not, as often stated, an English acronym for "Rest in Peace".
- RPG is a transliteration of ???, the Russian abbreviation of ?????????? ??????????????? ?????????? (reaktivniy protivotankoviy granatomyot), "rocket anti-tank launcher", now sometimes said to stand for "rocket-propelled grenade" instead. (RPG is also used for role-playing game, in poker culture refers to the usenet group rec.gambling.poker and is the name of a programming language originally called "Report Program Generator" sometime referred to by the backronym "Right Program Guide".)
- RSVP does not stand for "Respond to Sender Via Post" or "Respond So Very Promptly" but for the French "Répondez, s'il vous plaît," which literally translates to "Respond, if it pleases you" or simply "Please reply."
- AC/DC does not stand for "Anti-Christ/Devil's Children". nor for "After Christ, the Devil Comes". It actually stands for the electrical terms, "Alternating Current" and "Direct Current". The founders of the hard rock band, AC/DC, saw the letters on the back of a sewing machine, and thought that a reference to electricity suited their energetic style. The name caused some confusion among Americans because AC/DC was a common euphemism for bisexuality.
RecursiveSome backronyms are also recursive acronyms.
Perhaps the most famous of these is GNU, the open source software project, which stands for GNU's Not Unix.
Backronyms and the 12 steps Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step programs have a verbal culture that makes extensive use of backronyms.. They're used as teaching tools, similar to slogans like "one day at a time," or "Let go, let God," but often have an ironic edge.
GOD = Good Orderly Direction
Halt = Hungry Angry Lonely or Tired
Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real / Forgetting everything is all right / Fuck Everything And Run / Face Everything And Recover
Slip = Sobriety Losing Its Priority
Denial = Don't Even Notice I Am Lying
See also
External links -
- is not specifically about backronyms, but several false examples are discussed among its articles.
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