Paid Members Jazzy G Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 5 minutes ago, King Coconut said: So what is it? I've never seen one before, no-one has, but I'm guessing it's a white hole. Quote
Paid Members mim731 Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 1 hour ago, Jazzy G said: I've never seen one before, no-one has, but I'm guessing it's a white hole. I love a Red Dwarf reference in general, but that got a genuine out loud laugh out of me in the pub and some very strange looks. It doesn't help that I'm drinking alone (not in a sad way, it's my birthday and waiting for my wife to pick me up to go get a chippy tea with the kids). Good arrows. Quote
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted July 2, 2024 Awards Moderator Posted July 2, 2024 (edited) 6 minutes ago, mim731 said: I love a Red Dwarf reference in general, but that got a genuine out loud laugh out of me in the pub and some very strange looks. It doesn't help that I'm drinking alone (not in a sad way, it's my birthday and waiting for my wife to pick me up to go get a chippy tea with the kids). Good arrows. Today I learned it’s your birthday. Happy birthday! Edited July 2, 2024 by HarmonicGenerator Chippy tea Quote
Paid Members mim731 Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 (edited) 14 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Today I learned it’s your birthday. Happy birthday! Cheers! Hopefully a lovely Chippy Tea post is in the offing a bit later! Edited July 2, 2024 by mim731 No reason, just to annoy bacon Quote
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 37 minutes ago, mim731 said: I love a Red Dwarf reference in general, but that got a genuine out loud laugh out of me in the pub and some very strange looks. It doesn't help that I'm drinking alone (not in a sad way, it's my birthday and waiting for my wife to pick me up to go get a chippy tea with the kids). Good arrows. Happy birthday, smeghead. Hope your chippy tea is a good one. Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted July 2, 2024 Members Posted July 2, 2024 17 minutes ago, mim731 said: Edited 16 minutes ago by mim731 No reason, just to annoy bacon I hope you have a bloody rubbish birthday! ? Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 (edited) Yeah a lot of backronyms are popularised because etymology can be so tricky to pin down. There are so many words where there is no consensus on their origin, or at best a number of theories and we have to pick the most popular/plausible one because we don’t really know. I can’t think of many pre-20th century ones either, the real ones all seem to be relatively modern. “Laser” is a notable example of an acronym spawning a word and then leaving the acronym behind. Like with “Scuba”, that is a word but it feels obvious you’re just saying the acronym as convenient shorthand as it’s only used in one extremely specific context. Laser feels more like a word in its own right as it’s used in all sorts of contexts outside of scientists in lab coats referring specifically to Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Taser is a clunky one. The inventor named it after the book “Tom Swift and his electric rifle” which does make sense for an electricity-based weapon. It should be a Tsaher though technically. It was during the Cold War, maybe he thought that sounded too Russian. The taser company later said it stood for “Thomas A. Swift’s electric rifle” but the character in the novels doesn’t have a middle initial, they just made that shit up. Edited July 2, 2024 by JLM Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted July 2, 2024 Members Posted July 2, 2024 The best one ever is the rapper Noreaga who claims it stands for Ni**a On the Run Eating After Gratuitous Assault. Excellent. Quote
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted July 2, 2024 Moderators Posted July 2, 2024 9 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: The best one ever is the rapper Noreaga who claims it stands for Ni**a On the Run Eating After Gratuitous Assault. Excellent. Kano said his name stood for "knock a nigga out" when trying to chat up a friend of mine some many years ago. Suppose saying it was just his first name wouldn't have been as good a story... Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted July 2, 2024 Members Posted July 2, 2024 KRS ONE claiming it stood for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody always annoyed me, but he's so pretentious I believe him. Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 56 minutes ago, JLM said: Yeah a lot of backronyms are popularised because etymology can be so tricky to pin down. There are so many words where there is no consensus on their origin, or at best a number of theories and we have to pick the most popular/plausible one because we don’t really know. I can’t think of many pre-20th century ones either, the real ones all seem to be relatively modern. “Laser” is a notable example of an acronym spawning a word and then leaving the acronym behind. Like with “Scuba”, that is a word but it feels obvious you’re just saying the acronym as convenient shorthand as it’s only used in one extremely specific context. Laser feels more like a word in its own right as it’s used in all sorts of contexts outside of scientists in lab coats referring specifically to Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Taser is a clunky one. The inventor named it after the book “Tom Swift and his electric rifle” which does make sense for an electricity-based weapon. It should be a Tsaher though technically. It was during the Cold War, maybe he thought that sounded too Russian. The taser company later said it stood for “Thomas A. Swift’s electric rifle” but the character in the novels doesn’t have a middle initial, they just made that shit up. I remember, when I first learned about lasers, that there was a lower-frequency version called a maser - "microwave" replacing "light". TIL that Amelia Bullmore, who was in a ton of comedy stuff like Brass Eye, Big Train, I'm Alan Partridge, and Jam, was also Steph Barnes in Corrie. Don't know why I didn't recognise that. Quote
wordsfromlee Posted July 2, 2024 Posted July 2, 2024 4 hours ago, JLM said: Yeah a lot of backronyms are popularised because etymology can be so tricky to pin down. There are so many words where there is no consensus on their origin, or at best a number of theories and we have to pick the most popular/plausible one because we don’t really know. I can’t think of many pre-20th century ones either, the real ones all seem to be relatively modern. I think 'OK' is the major one. Many people think it comes from an initialism of "oll korrect" as a misspelling of "all correct". Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 2 hours ago, wordsfromlee said: I think 'OK' is the major one. Many people think it comes from an initialism of "oll korrect" as a misspelling of "all correct". The one I heard most often was that it came from American troops in WWII coming back from missions with no losses, i.e. zero kills, "0 K". Has there ever been any kind of definitive pronouncement on where it comes from, or is it just something we'll wonder about forever more? Quote
Paid Members gmoney Posted July 2, 2024 Paid Members Posted July 2, 2024 7 minutes ago, Carbomb said: or is it just something we'll wonder about forever more? I believe it's this. Quote
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