werd

[Salasm]

did you know...

cop = constable on patrol
laser = light amplification by stimulated emmision of radiation
scuba = self contained underwater breathing apparatus
radar = radio detection and ranging

werd.

 

[mad jew]

SWATAC - So Why Aren't They All Capitalised?

 

[PlaceofDis]

SWATAC - So Why Aren't They All Capitalised?

because their usage has noramlized them into regular words from acronyms

 

[mad jew]

Ahhhhhh, like Qantas - Queensland And Northern Territory Airline Service.

 

[MongoTheGeek]

did you know...

cop = constable on patrol
laser = light amplification by stimulated emmision of radiation
scuba = self contained underwater breathing apparatus
radar = radio detection and ranging

werd.

Sonar = SOund Navigation And Ranging
Maser = Microwave yada yada yada
Lidar = LIght Detection And Ranging

 

[mkrishnan]

What about the weird reverse ones... when did people start saying "O-B-G-Y-N"? It seems rather...well...

 

[Legolamb]

and then there is my fav:
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

 

[Andrew D.]

The military has a lot of acronyms going around too.

 

[mkrishnan]

Fubar'ed is a good military one.

 

[siurpeeman]

and then there is my fav:
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

it's a false etymology. it doesn't really mean that.

 

[johnee]

Hey! I've been trying to create some new process/patent/program at work and give it a name whose acronym is P.O.O.P. It needs to be computer/microprocessor related.

I would LOVE some suggestions! I think it would be so FUNNY to have everyone including senior management be forced to say it!

 

[CanadaRAM]

did you know...
cop = constable on patrol

"The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories says: "Around the year 1700, the slang verb cop entered English usage, meaning 'to get ahold of, catch, capture.' By 1844, cop showed up in print, and soon thereafter the -er suffix was added, and a policeman became a copper, one who cops or catches and arrests criminals. Copper first appeared in print in 1846, the use of cop as a short form copper occured in 1859.""

"To cop" may come Dutch kapen = "to steal"; Irish ceap = "Stop, catch, seize, control", or Old French dialect caper = "to take", from Latin
capere.

Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology

"Cop (sl.) Catch; capture. XVIII. Of north. dial. origin; prob. variant of cap
arrest, seize (VVI) - OF. caper seize - L. capere (see Capture) Hence cop and
copper policeman, XIX. (Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, p. 213,
Oxford, 1978.)"

 

[mkrishnan]

So the usage, "Yo, we need to cop a new drop" is actually the original archaic usage?

 

[Legolamb]

it's a false etymology. it doesn't really mean that.

Linguistically, you’re right. It's a recent add-on. But as an acronym, it’s still my fav.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I've noticed that any town whose name begins with "B" and has a fire department, has a problem.

"BFD" isn't exactly the attitude you want to see written on the back of a uniform when your house is burning down.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I've noticed that any town whose name begins with "B" and has a fire department, has a problem.

"BFD" isn't exactly the attitude you want to see written on the back of a uniform when your house is burning down.

As with any university town starting with F

 

[adk]

"The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories says: "Around the year 1700, the slang verb cop entered English usage, meaning 'to get ahold of, catch, capture.' By 1844, cop showed up in print, and soon thereafter the -er suffix was added, and a policeman became a copper, one who cops or catches and arrests criminals. Copper first appeared in print in 1846, the use of cop as a short form copper occured in 1859.""

"To cop" may come Dutch kapen = "to steal"; Irish ceap = "Stop, catch, seize, control", or Old French dialect caper = "to take", from Latin
capere.

Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology

"Cop (sl.) Catch; capture. XVIII. Of north. dial. origin; prob. variant of cap
arrest, seize (VVI) - OF. caper seize - L. capere (see Capture) Hence cop and
copper policeman, XIX. (Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, p. 213,
Oxford, 1978.)"

I've always heard that "cop" is a derivative from the copper badges police officers used to wear.

 

[katie ta achoo]

ATM = Automatic Teller Machine.

What bugs me is when people say ATM Machine!

ATM Machine = automatic teller machine machine
a machine that makes ATMs.

 

[bartelby]

Fubar'ed is a good military one.

Fugazi is a good one too, not in popular usage like the other though...

 

[siurpeeman]

ATM = Automatic Teller Machine.

What bugs me is when people say ATM Machine!

ATM Machine = automatic teller machine machine
a machine that makes ATMs.

cd/dvd disk, too. it doesn't bother me so much, though. i'm accepting of other people's mistakes.

 

[katie ta achoo]

cd/dvd disk, too. it doesn't bother me so much, though. i'm accepting of other people's mistakes.

I'm sorry, everyone around me must be perfect at all times. If they slip up, they get a backhand to the face.

*eyes siurpeeman*


and hey, y'all know QED DOESN'T stand for Quite Easily Demonstrated... I kept telling my Calculus teacher that. I got eyes rolled at me... hehehe.

 

[bartelby]

and hey, y'all know QED DOESN'T stand for Quite Easily Demonstrated... I kept telling my Calculus teacher that. I got eyes rolled at me... hehehe.

No, it's "which was to be demonstrated"

 

[katie ta achoo]

No, it's "which was to be demonstrated"

yes, but the letters line up in English, too.

oh, calculus, you were fun.

 

[Macaddicttt]

I quite enjoy the word "snafu."

 

[mkrishnan]

Fugazi is a good one too, not in popular usage like the other though...

What is the etymology? I love that word! I always thought it was just an Italian loan word in English, though.

Speaking of ATM, there was a time during the Republican congress in the days of Pres. Clinton that one of the senators or reps used to have a speech on a regular basis in which he would decry research he felt was stupid, unnecessary, or wasting of government money (insert ). There was one where he was going off on someone who was asking for a fair amount of money to "research ATMs." Someone had to politely explain to him that ATM also stands for "asynchronous transfer modes" and not just banking machines.