Today's word: backronym (n.) an acronym explanation invented for a word that is not an acronym.

According to my exhaustive research (10 minutes on Google), there are at least three distinct terms for what are usually all lumped in under the umbrella of "acronym". There are true acronyms, such as NASA and NATO. The word is derived from the initial letters of other words, but is pronounced as written. Then there are initialisms, which are also words formed by the initial letters of other words, but they are just read as a string of letters; for example, FBI, CIA and KGB. Lastly, there are backronyms -- words like SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion ; the super secret agency in James Bond books - hence the British spelling), LISA; the name of the first Apple computer, allegedly based on Local Integrated Software Architecture; and BASIC (the programming language; Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). What all these backronyms have in common is that real words existed before the abbreviation, and the abbreviation was simply made up to fit the word. Steve Jobs revealed that Lisa was, in fact, his daughter's name. And you thought it was simple!

My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

Thanks for reading.

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