# Since when are "NATO" and "NAFTA" proper nouns?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-when-are-nato-and-nafta-proper-nouns/818221>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 19, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-when-are-nato-and-nafta-proper-nouns/818221 "2018-07-19T19:34:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-when-are-nato-and-nafta-proper-nouns/818221/21 "2018-07-21T21:14:54Z")

</div>

> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Fair enough, but there is nothing to suggest it’s an acronym. Are there any other etymologies of English words dating back to the early 1700s that have an acronym as a source? This smells like the typical urban legend type of backronym like "golf stands for ‘gentlemen only, ladies forbidden.’ or “fuck means ‘fornication under consent of the king.’” At the very least, those claiming a root of “touch and go” need to cite a source.

English words deriving from acronyms dating from before WWII are uncommon and those dating from before WWI are practically nonexistent. “Okay” is about the only common one. Any claim that a word that wasn’t coined in the 20th century is an acronym is almost certainly false. Etymology Online just posted [an indignant article](https://www.etymonline.com/columns/post/acronymphomania) about this, inspired by the “tag” urban legend that has popped up recently, in which he uses, quite appropriately IMHO, words like “appalling idiocy”, “bilge”, “dopes” and “intellectual vandalism”. He does list three more old-ish words that might be acronyms, but two date from only shortly before WWI and the other is probably not an acronym.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-when-are-nato-and-nafta-proper-nouns/818221.md?page=1)