# for unlawful carnal knowledge **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2000, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140 "2000-02-13T05:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140/21 "2003-02-05T10:32:01Z")
**Popup** , _Peruvian_ in this sense is in the OED > [@](#): > > 1. [Prob. f. acronym P.R.U. Polish and Russian Union.] In South Africa, a contemptuous name for a Jew, esp. from Central or Eastern Europe. > 1898 L. Searelle Tales of Transvaal 4 A ‘Peruvian’ standing by, whose name was Schadrach Levi. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140/22 "2003-02-05T13:22:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\ ***Popup** , _Peruvian_ in this sense is in the OED \*\* Aahhh! Thank you **bibliophage**! That would put it quite a few years before _radar_, which is otherwise quoted as among the first acronyms. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140/23 "2003-02-05T14:41:56Z")
Ddin’t we have SCUBA before RADAR? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140/24 "2003-02-05T14:56:59Z")
I think it’s pretty clear that “radar” was not the first acronym. It may be true that “radar” started the fashion of acronyms. Before “radar” acronyms were fairly rare, but afterwards they became reasonably common. It wasn’t till after the appearance of the word “radar” that people began to make up these absurd etymologies using acronyms. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140/25 "2003-02-05T15:46:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spiff \* > \*\*Ddin’t we have SCUBA before RADAR? \*\* No. Radar was 1941, scuba was not in print until 1952. This is odd, because it was invented nine years earlier. > **[Definition of scuba | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scuba)** > > Definition of scuba from Dictionary.com, the world’s leading online source for English definitions, pronunciations, word origins, idioms, Word of the Day, and more. > [@](#): > > Word History: Going scuba diving sounds much more appealing than going self-contained underwater breathing apparatus diving, and saying scuba leaves more breath for swimming. The name for such an apparatus, first successfully tested in 1943, was formed by taking the first letter of each word in the phrase and putting them together to form a single word. Scuba, like other acronyms, has a vowel at a point that allows it to be pronounced like an English word. The word, first recorded in 1952, has been so widely adopted that people rarely think of it as a collection of initials and use it in forming other words, such as scuba-dive. In fact, a verb scuba was first recorded in 1973 and is still in use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge/7140.md?page=1)