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by 27theo 793 days ago
TIL backronym.
4 comments

US Congress is a fan of its use, even if they might not know there's a word for it
"Strategic Homeland Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"And what does that mean to you?"

"It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out "S.H.I.E.L.D."

That would be a good name for an artillery division.
I graduated from Purdue University Calumet Campus in northwest Indiana (PUCC.) At one point they considered renaming as the South Hammond Institute of Technology.

Ba-dump-tish.

Lookup the World Taekwondo Federation, recently shortened to World Taekwondo. I pity the poor soul who had to explain the need to elders of the sport, many of which did not speak english.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym

> A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The word is a portmanteau of back and acronym.[1]

> A normal acronym is a word derived from the initial letters of the words of a phrase,[2] such as radar from "radio detection and ranging".[3] By contrast, a backronym is "an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word's origin."[1] Many fictional espionage organizations are backronyms, such as SPECTRE (special executive for counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion) from the James Bond franchise.

> For example, the Amber Alert missing-child program was named after Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1996.[4] Officials later publicized the backronym "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response".[5]