# Acronyms you misunderstood and gave a false meaning/etymology to **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551 "2022-07-25T20:10:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/41 "2022-07-27T18:15:04Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > BOHICA is an old military acronym. I wonder how old? > > I think it might be Vietnam era. Rolls off the tongue well, like my two favorite military acronyms SNAFU and FUBAR. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/42 "2022-07-27T18:17:39Z")
Those two are from WW2 or maybe a little earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/43 "2022-07-28T20:00:19Z")
The first time I saw a personal ad placed by an “SWM”, I thought he was referring to himself as a Short White Male. I soon learned the “S” stood for “Single”. When I was a kid, I was looking at a picture of an astronaut with a NASA patch on his spacesuit, and my mother asked me if I knew what the acronym stood for. My guess was “North America South America”. In my defense, neither of the “A” words of National Aeronautics and Space Administration were yet in my working vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/44 "2022-08-01T18:10:24Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Saw the acronym POSSLQ [in this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-moments-when-the-stars-align-how-did-they-turn-out-for-you-in-the-long-term/968510/4), and was confused because it seemed to describe a heterosexual relationship… I just looked through this whole thread looking for the definition of POSSLQ, didn’t find it, clicked the link, had to click another link, and finally learned that POSSLQ means a person of the opposite sex sharing living quarters. I decided to post this in case anyone else was wondering the same thing and didn’t want to go to all that effort. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/45 "2022-08-01T18:16:12Z")
I saw ads for DARE for years without know what the acronym stood for, so I just figured it meant Drugs Are Real Evil. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/46 "2022-08-01T18:16:52Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I decided to post this in case anyone else was wondering the same thing and didn’t want to go to all that effort. Thank you. I wondered, too, but not enough to Google it. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/47 "2022-08-01T19:02:09Z")
That might be a better synopsis of their actual position. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/48 "2022-08-02T12:51:01Z")
I learned of POSSLQ via [this poem.](https://jheaton.livejournal.com/1115999.html) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/49 "2022-08-02T19:33:24Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > BOHICA is an old military acronym. I wonder how old? I was curious, so I went googling. No one really seems sure exactly when it started. The acronym definitely became popularized during the Vietnam War. By the 1970s it had been popularized to the point where it showed up in print. In the early 1970s it showed up in a US Naval Academy humor magazine as a comic named the Bohica brothers. BOHICA may have existed before the Vietnam era, but if it did it wasn’t popular. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/50 "2022-08-02T19:59:06Z")
Heh. Not an acronym, but… I always thought that saying someone gave you a ration of shit. Was actually someone gave you a rash and a shit. Seemed odd. I was probably in my 50’s before the light went on on that one. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/51 "2022-08-03T17:12:29Z")
And at first I thought “MILF” meant “mother-in-law fetish”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/52 "2022-08-03T21:38:22Z")
Makes equal sense in porno pseudo-fetish lingo. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/53 "2022-08-07T02:48:36Z")
When I first started seeing it I kept thinking BIPOC had something to do with bisexuals. I still have a hard time reading it otherwise even though I know it’s got nothing to do with that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551/54 "2022-08-07T03:07:15Z")
> [@Bumbazine](#): > > Also, for many years, around here anyway, BLM meant Bureau of Land Management. Yep. Puzzled me for a while. But I knew what RPG meant, in role playing since 1974. > [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Another one that switched on me, although it wasn’t originally an acronym: GOAT. I use it all the time to mean someone who is being blamed (from scapegoat). Now it’s used to mean “Greatest of All Time,” which is the complete opposite of being the goat. Yeah, confused the crap outta me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-you-misunderstood-and-gave-a-false-meaning-etymology-to/968551.md?page=2)