2258: Backronyms Feb 20, 2021

There are a number of words used today that are truly from acronyms, such as 'radar' ("radio detection and ranging") but there are many more that people believe to be from acronyms and aren't, like 'posh'. A term 'backronym' was coined to describe this phenomenon when people make an acronym out of a word which was not previously an acronym. This is sometimes used for folk etymology, but also for other reasons such as legal bills or organizations, such as the First Step Act which is technically an acronym for the otherwise quite awkward and cumbersome "Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act".

Write a comment with any other folk etymology backronyms you may know.

547: Posh Jun 7, 2016

Folk-etymology, or made-up etymology often involves stories that do not have any hard evidence to support it, but are logical enough to fly under the radar sometimes. The exact derivation of 'posh' is unknown and this leaves room for people to swoop in and supply their own. Depending upon where one searches, it is possible to find something saying that 'posh' is an acronym for "port out starboard home", the story being that this denotes the use of the preferable accommodations sailing back and forth England to India as to escape the heat of the sun. Nevertheless, however fun the story is, nothing backs it up as true.