# sub & sup

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [July 14, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543 "2005-07-14T18:19:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/21 "2005-07-16T23:37:45Z")

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[sub]:smack:[/sub] [sup]:dubious: [/sup]

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**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/22 "2005-07-17T02:21:10Z")

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> [@Fear Itself](#):
>
> [sub]:smack:[/sub] [sup]:dubious: [/sup]

I know, I know. It was terrible. But the earlier post reminded me of a kids show from when I was little. It had some green guy reading the fake kids news and that was his catch phrase.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/23 "2005-07-17T05:16:38Z")

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[sup] 🙂 [/sup] 🙂 [sub] 🙂 [/sub] 🙂 [sup] 🙂 [/sup] [sup] 🙂 [/sup] 🙂 [sub] 🙂 [/sub]🙂 [sup] 🙂 [/sup] 🙂 [sub] 🙂 [/sub]

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**Author:** ![Pythian\_Habenero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Pythian\_Habenero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pythian_Habenero)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/24 "2005-07-17T14:54:16Z")

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> [@scr4](#):
>
> [sup] 🙂 [/sup] 🙂 [sub] 🙂 [/sub] 🙂 [sup] 🙂 [/sup] [sup] 🙂 [/sup] 🙂 [sub] 🙂 [/sub]🙂 [sup] 🙂 [/sup] 🙂 [sub] 🙂 [/sub]

:eek: [sup] ☹ [sub];)[/sub][/sup][sub] :rolleyes: [sub]:dubious:[sup] 🆒 [/sup][/sub][/sub]

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**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/25 "2005-07-17T16:04:52Z")

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> [@Greathouse](#):
>
> So it would appear that the first **P** in **PHP** stands for… **PHP**? :smack:

Yeah, it’s a recursive acronym: refers to itself (or another acronym). [del]Gary Gnu[/del] **severus** already mentioned GNU, but there’s also, for example, EINE–EINE Is Not Emacs–and CYGNUS–CYGNUS, Your GNU Support. 😛

A bit off-topic (so far as this thread has a topic), but my favorite computerese acronym is TWAIN. Even though it didn’t start out as an acronym, a lot of people started attributing “Technology Without An Interesting Name” to it.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/26 "2005-07-17T17:02:09Z")

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And **TTP** = The TTP Project.

(from Dilbert)

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sub-sup/312543/27 "2005-07-18T18:47:23Z")

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Lobsang

=  
Lobsang

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