wa277 (11/27/82)
The reason the experts are suspicious of derivations of words from acronyms (Constable on Patrol = "cop," etc.) is that they are often instances of folk etymology--popular but invalid explanation of word origins. There's a sociological reason for the scarcity of acronyms in English before the 19th century. Your slang terms like "cop" tend to come from working class speech and criminal or occupational jargon, and before the 19th century the literacy rate was low enough that acronyms would not have been common in popular usage. That's why nobody who knows anything about language imagines that a certain well-known Anglo-Saxon verb derives from "fornication under the command of the king," a supposed medieval practice. These derivations make good cocktail party trivia, but that's about as far as they go. David Sewell
jdd (11/29/82)
In general, any "cute" purported word derivation is awfully questionable,
usually in direct correlation to its cuteness. My favorite false derivation
is "news", from "north, east, west, south", which are the directions from
which early reporters sought their stories. Oh sure.
It is amazing, though, how people will stick by the most unlikely derivations.
I had a French friend once who believed that "le weekend" was a French word,
and no amount of talking would dissuade her. I pointed out that "week" was
a good English word, that "end" was too, and that "weekend" was therefore
obviously English, but she still thought "weekend" was French: it \sounded/
French to her, and that was what mattered. Of course, as people will tell me,
it's just my \opinion/ that it's English; it could be a French acronym.
Cheers,
John ("()") DeTreville
Bell Labs, Murray Hill