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It is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind of [[false etymology]] called a [[folk etymology]] for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no scholarly basis in [[historical linguistics]], and are examples of language-related [[urban legend]]s. For example, ''cop'' is commonly cited as being supposedly derived from "constable on patrol," ''posh'' from "port out starboard home", and ''golf'' from "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden". Taboo words in particular commonly have such false etymologies: ''shit'' from "ship high in transit" and ''fuck'' from "for unlawful carnal knowledge."  

It is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind of [[false etymology]] called a [[folk etymology]] for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no scholarly basis in [[historical linguistics]], and are examples of language-related [[urban legend]]s. For example, ''cop'' is commonly cited as being supposedly derived from "constable on patrol," ''posh'' from "port out starboard home", and ''golf'' from "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden". Taboo words in particular commonly have such false etymologies: ''shit'' from "ship high in transit" and ''fuck'' from "for unlawful carnal knowledge."  

Acronyms pronounced as words may be a 20th century phenomenon.  Linguist David Wilton in ''Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends'' states that "...forming words from acronyms is a distinctly twentieth (and now twenty-first)-Century phenomena.  There is only one pre-twentieth-century word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue only for a short time in 1886.  The word is ''colinderies'' or ''colinda'', an acronym for the Colonial and Indian Exposition held in London in that year. <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=cp0r3aa8EM8C&dq=Word+Myths:+Debunking+Linguistic+Urban+Legends&pg=PP1&ots=W-MkF4HoJH&sig=qXdp23kdeDPL7QbhkCpRMh59T-o&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DWord%2BMyths%253A%2BDebunking%2BLinguistic%2BUrban%2BLegends%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26aq%3Dt%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title#PPA79,M1 books.google.com/books]</ref><ref>http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/acronyms.asp </ref>

Acronyms pronounced as words may be a 20th century phenomenon.  Linguist David Wilton in ''Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends'' states that "...forming words from acronyms is a distinctly twentieth (and now twenty-first)-Century phenomena.  There is only one pre-twentieth-century word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue only for a short time in 1886.  The word is ''colinderies'' or ''colinda'', an acronym for the Colonial and Indian Exposition held in London in that year. [http://books.google.com/books?id=cp0r3aa8EM8C&dq=Word+Myths:+Debunking+Linguistic+Urban+Legends&pg=PP1&ots=W-MkF4HoJH&sig=qXdp23kdeDPL7QbhkCpRMh59T-o&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DWord%2BMyths%253A%2BDebunking%2BLinguistic%2BUrban%2BLegends%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26aq%3Dt%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title#PPA79,M1 books.google.com/books][http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/acronyms.asp]

== Usage ==

== Usage ==