Talk:Backronym

I am a little confused here. It seems that there are different definitions.

Jargon-file style: a word interpreted as an acronym, though it was not originally intended.

word-like acronym: an acronym that interpreted as a word has some (funny) meaning.

Examples of the jargon-file style are: acme, mung.

Examples of word-like acronym: basic, mad, atlas (an experiment at Cern).

This article initially had the jargon-file definition (the only one I knew), and somehow it has now switched to that other meaning (that I had never called "backronym"), while still having parts that imply the first meaning. What's going on? Where did you see that called "backronym"? - jbc May 28 09:15 UTC 2003

The entry on apronym seems to describe the latter style, where the acronym was created first (as in USA PATRIOT) and the words that it would stand for were chosen second. So perhaps that's where references to the second definition should be moved. -- Arteitle 09:34 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Upon closer inspection, it looks like apronyms are meant as lighthearted jokes, though they're created in the same way as the "word-like acronym" style you mentioned. -- Arteitle 09:38 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I'd say that an apronym can be either jocular or quite serious. The ones at apronyms.com are largely jocular, but "USA PATRIOT" is a serious apronym if you ask me. So I'd be all for moving it and the others that aren't really backronyms so much as apronyms to apronym. In fact, I think I'll investigate into a means of doing such, if it's conveniently possible. JeffTL 16:27 8 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Essentially, it seems to me that apronymns are wordplay (i.e. they are deliberately designed to reflect the world they form), while backronyms actually stand for something in the real world (i.e., they abbreviate something else). Which isn't to say that the two categories can't overlap, as in "USA PATRIOT". But the Algebra I "FOIL" (first, outer, inner, last) would be a backronym, but not a apronym (because it has nothing to do with foils), and the SADDAM (Savage Arab Dictator, Dangerous And Murderous), while, although it may be true and an apronym, is not a backronym because nobody would ever use "SADDAM" to abbreviate "Savage.... Murderous" in real life. Does anybody else also parse the two this way? Seth Ilys 17:53, 23 Dec 2003 (UTC)

So why were BASIC, ZIP, USA PATRIOT removed from the list of backronyms? So far as I can tell, they are... - Seth Ilys 06:44, 13 Jan 2004 (UTC)