Definition and Examples of Backronyms in English

Definition and Examples of Backronyms in English Definition A backronym is a reverse acronym: an expression that has been formed from the letters of an existing word or name. Alternate spelling: bacronym. Also known as an  apronym or reverse acronymy. Examples include SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), ZIP code (Zone Improvement Plan), and USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism). The word backronym is a blend of backward and acronym. According to Paul Dickson in Family Words (1998), the term was created by Meredith G. Williams of Potomac, Maryland, to cover the likes of GEORGE (Georgetown Environmentalists Organization against Rats, Garbage, and Emissions) and NOISE (Neighbors Opposed to Irritating Sound Emissions). See Examples and Observations below. Also see: Back-FormationFolk EtymologyInitialismIntroduction to Etymology: Word HistoriesMnemonicName That -nym: A Brief Introduction to Words and NamesNeologism    Examples and Observations SOS is an example of a backronym, with people claiming it stands for save our ship or save our soulswhen, in fact, it doesnt stand for anything.(Mitchell Symons, Where Do Nudists Keep Their Hankies? HarperCollins, 2007)Antonyms and BackronymsThis particular kind of etymological myththe after-the-fact association of a word with a phrasehas become so common that it has acquired a whimsical name: backronym. The difference is timing: which came first, the phrase or the word? Scuba, for example, is a true acronym, evolved from self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Golf, on the other handcontrary to widely circulated mythdoes not stand for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden. Thats a backronym. Other backronyms wrongly believed to be actual etymologies include Constable on Patrol and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.(James E. Clapp, Elizabeth G. Thornburg, Marc Galanter, and Fred R. Shapiro, Lawtalk: The Unknown Stories Behind Familiar Legal Expressions. Yale University Press, 2011) ACHOOSome people, like me, inherit a genetic oddity that causes them to sneeze when confronted by bright light. Im afraid this syndrome has been given the overly cute acronym of ACHOO (autosomol dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst).(Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses. Vintage Books, 1990)COLBERTWhat do you do when youre NASA and comedian Stephen Colbert wins your contest to name the new wing for the International Space Station? You name an orbital exercise machine after him.The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT, is expected to keep astronauts in shape.With the help of a legion of fans, Colbert got the most votes in the space agencys online poll soliciting names for Node 3, which will be called Tranquility after the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed on the moon.(NASA Names Cosmic Treadmill After Colbert. CNN Entertainment, April 15, 2009)SHERLOCK and RALPHFans of Arthur Conan Doyle have a society called Sherlock Holmes Enthusiastic Readers League of Criminal Knowledge, or SHERLOCK, a creative, if strained, backronym. In 1982, admirers of comedian Jackie Gleason organized the Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of the Honeymooners, or RALPH, which happens to be the first name of Gleasons TV character, Ralph Cramden.(Chrysti M. Smith, Verbivores Feast, Second Course: More Word Phrase Origins. Farcountry Press, 2006) CabalThe backronym cabal was formed from the names of five ministers of King Charles II. The ministers, Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale, were at the bottom of various political intrigues in the early 1670s. According to history, these five, plus others, defaulted on the national debt by closing the exchequer in 1670, started a war with Holland in 1672, and entered into an alliance with the hated French in 1673. The English use of the word cabal to mean a group of conspirators predates the nefarious schemes of these five men by at least 25 years.(David Wilton, Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Oxford University Press, 2009)PerlPerl is a word that has backronyms. Various expansions attributed to the letters in Perl were invented after the programming language was named. Practical Extraction and Report Language is a popular backronym for Perl. A less gracious backronym is Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister.(Jules J. Berman, Perl Programming for Medicine and Biology. Jones Bartlett, 2007) Pronunciation: BAK-ri-nim Alternate Spellings: bacronym

Quotes From Charles Dickenss Oliver Twist

Quotes From Charles Dickenss Oliver Twist Charles Dickens second novel, Oliver Twist, is the story of an orphan growing up among criminals in London, England. The novel, one of Dickenss most popular works, is known for its harsh depiction of poverty, child labor, and life in the London slums of the mid-19th century. Poverty Oliver Twist was published at a time when many of Dickenss countrymen were living in great poverty. The most unfortunate were sent to workhouses, where they received food and lodging in exchange for their labor. The protagonist of Dickenss novel ends up in such a workhouse as a child. To earn his gruel, Oliver spends his days picking oakum. Please, sir, I want some more. [Chapter 2] Oliver Twist has asked for more! [Chapter 2] I am very hungry and tired... I have walked a long way. I have been walking these seven days. [Chapter 8] Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire, and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless starving wretch to lay him down and die. Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets at such times, who, let their crimes have been what they may, can hardly open them in a more bitter world. [Chapter 23] Human Nature Dickens was admired not only as a novelist but also as a social critic, and in Oliver Twist he uses his sharp eye to dissect the weaknesses of human nature. The social canvas of the novel, which includes the poor underclass of London and the criminal justice system designed to contain it, allows Dickens to explore what happens when humans are reduced to the basest conditions. The doctor seemed especially troubled by the fact of the robbery having been unexpected, and attempted in the night-time; as if it were the established custom of gentlemen in the housebreaking way to transact business at noon, and to make an appointment, by the twopenny post, a day or two previous. [Chapter 7] Although Oliver had been brought up by philosophers, he was not theoretically acquainted with the beautiful axiom that self-preservation is the first law of nature. [Chapter 10] There is a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast. [Chapter 10] But death, fires, and burglary, make all men equals. [Chapter 28] Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts, exercises, even over the appearance of external objects. Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision. [Chapter 33] The suspense: the fearful, acute suspense: of standing idly by while the life of one we dearly love, is trembling in the balance; the racking thoughts that crowd upon the mind, and make the heart beat violently, and the breath come thick, by the force of the images they conjure up before it; the desperate anxiety  to be doing something  to relieve the pain, or lessen the danger, which we have no power to alleviate; the sinking of soul and spirit, which the sad remembrance of our helplessness produces; what tortures can equal these; what reflections of endeavours can, in the full tide and fever of the time, allay them! [Chapter 33] Society and Class As the story of a poor orphan, and of the downtrodden more generally, Oliver Twist is filled with Dickenss thoughts about the role of class in English society. The author is highly critical of the institutions that protect the upper classes while leaving the poor to starve and die. Throughout the book, Dickens raises questions about how society organizes itself and treats its worst-off members. Why everybody lets him alone enough, for the matter of that. Neither his father nor his mother will ever interfere with him. All his relations let him have his own way pretty well. [Chapter 5] I only know two sorts of boys. Mealy boys, and beef-faced boys. [Chapter 10] Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine. [Chapter 37] We need be careful how we deal with those about us, when every death carries to some small circle of survivors, thoughts of so much omitted, and so little done- of so many things forgotten, and so many more which might have been repaired! There is no remorse so deep as that which is unavailing; if we would be spared its tortures, let us remember this, in time. [Chapter 8] The sun,the bright sun, that brings back, not light alone, but new life, and hope, and freshness to manburst upon the crowded city in clear and radiant glory. Through costly-coloured glass and paper-mended window, through cathedral dome and rotten crevice, it shed its equal ray.  [Chapter 46]