Recursive acronym: Difference between revisions
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A '''recursive acronym''' is one where the original term (acronym) appears as an element in the ''expansion'' of the original term; i.e. the expansion in theory goes on forever. They were a bit of charming whimsy that appeared at [[MIT]] (possibly in the name of the editor [[EINE]] | A '''recursive acronym''' is one where the original term (acronym) appears as an element in the ''expansion'' of the original term; i.e. the expansion, in theory, goes on forever. They were a bit of charming whimsy that appeared at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] (possibly first in the jargon term 'mung' - 'mung until no good'). The name of the [[text editor]] [[EINE]] ('EINE is not EMACS') as an early example, and for a while it was the fashion there to name editors with such names. The practise was not restricted to editors, though; for example, the Nimrod [[routing architecture]] had a recursive acronym ('Nimrod: It Might Run One Day') - although in that case it was a [[backronym]] (the name existed before the expansion was created). | ||
[[Category: Humour]] | [[Category: Humour]] | ||
[[Category: Terminology]] | |||
Latest revision as of 11:42, 11 April 2025
A recursive acronym is one where the original term (acronym) appears as an element in the expansion of the original term; i.e. the expansion, in theory, goes on forever. They were a bit of charming whimsy that appeared at MIT (possibly first in the jargon term 'mung' - 'mung until no good'). The name of the text editor EINE ('EINE is not EMACS') as an early example, and for a while it was the fashion there to name editors with such names. The practise was not restricted to editors, though; for example, the Nimrod routing architecture had a recursive acronym ('Nimrod: It Might Run One Day') - although in that case it was a backronym (the name existed before the expansion was created).
