No list of contrived acronyms could be complete without USA PATRIOT - Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.
Another acronym featured on Wikipedia’s backronym page, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 is an oldie but goldie that has long been on ORCA’s radar. (As it happens, Radar is also an acronym - RAdio Detection And Ranging - and was originally RADAR but has become an everyday word, much like LASER - Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.)
The USA PATRIOT Act is famous enough to need no introduction but so contrived that it had to feature at some point. Although listed as a “backronym” by Wikipedia, under ORCA classification it is definitely a pre hoc: something contrived to fit an appropriate word. Whether its an appropriate Act is a whole other issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment