# Why the odd/silly/contradictory acronyms for GNU/GPL projects? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719 "2005-02-24T16:21:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/1 "2005-02-24T16:21:24Z")
Is there some reason (or even some understandable cultural root) for the sort of acronyms that seem to abound in the GPL software arena? Having said they are common, all I can think of at the moment is (LAME “ **L** ame **A** in’t an **M** P3 **E** ncoder” - actually, it _is_ an MP3 encoder) - but I’m certain I’ve stumbled across quite a few others that are similar in concept. What’s it all about? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/2 "2005-02-24T16:44:28Z")
Staying up late in the computer lab for months at a time does strange things to one’s sense of humor. I belive that the first of these was GNU which stands for Gnu is Not Unix. It is my impression that this comes about because of a fight with AT&T over using the UNIX name for a UNIX like operating system. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/3 "2005-02-24T17:07:06Z")
Weird acronyms predate GNU by quite a bit. Consider EINE (EINE Is Not Emacs). And its successor, ZWEI (ZWEI Was EINE, Initially.) Then there’s the ones that trick you. The common “ya” tradition for “yet another.” For example, Yacc (Yet Another Compiler Compiler), YaST (Yet Another Setup Tool.) And then along comes YAML. (Yet Another Markup Language? Nope. It’s YAML Ain’t Markup Language. (Because it isn’t. It’s for data serialization.)) Anyway, yeah, geeks are weird. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/4 "2005-02-24T17:22:07Z")
Then there’s the mail reader pine, which stands for Pine Is Not Elm. (Elm was a previous, mail reader) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/5 "2005-02-24T17:36:13Z")
It’s not limited to GNU stuff. Consider the scanner API TWAIN, which stands for **T** echnology **W** ithout **A** n **I** nteresting **N** ame. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/6 "2005-02-24T17:38:44Z")
These things are called [recursive acronyms](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=recursive%20acronym), by the way. I like ‘mung: to mess up a file or program by making largescale irrevocable changes.’ It comes from ‘mung until no good’, supposedly. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/7 "2005-02-24T17:48:13Z")
Actually, the Wikipedia article on recursive acronyms mentions one that predates the common computer usages: > **[Recursive acronym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym)** > > A recursive acronym is an acronym that refers to itself. The term was first used in print in 1979 in Douglas Hofstadter's book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, in which Hofstadter invents the acronym GOD, meaning "GOD Over Djinn", to help explain infinite series, and describes it as a recursive acronym. Other references followed, however the concept was used as early as 1968 in John Brunner's science fiction novel Stand on Zanzibar. In the story, the acronym EPT (Education for Recur... > [@](#): > > The earliest example is perhaps the credit card VISA, which was named in 1976 as a recursive acronym for VISA International Service Association. Why should the programmers have all the fun? I’ll bet an earlier example can be found, though probably not one as well known. In the more general area, I always liked the long defunct corporation NBI - “Nothing But Initials”. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/8 "2005-02-24T17:54:04Z")
Puns are the poetry of the technological subculture. Consider the name of the UNIX operating system itself, which is a pun on the (now extinct) operating system Multics. Self-contradicting or recursive acronyms are merely an extension of the art form. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/9 "2005-02-24T18:15:09Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > These things are called [recursive acronyms](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=recursive%20acronym), by the way. > > I like ‘mung: to mess up a file or program by making largescale irrevocable changes.’ It comes from ‘mung until no good’, supposedly. The TECO editor (Text Editor and COrrector), an ancestor of EMACS, had a built-in MUNG command for running editor macros. TECO macros are infamous for looking like line noise. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/10 "2005-02-24T19:41:26Z")
One of my good friends wrote an interface for various Debian package management tools. Another friend of mine manipulated the name until the acronym became “feta” - [front end to apt](http://packages.debian.org/testing/admin/feta). Mmm. Feta… To actually answer the question, I think it’s just because geeks like silly acronyms. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/11 "2005-02-24T20:00:34Z")
Then there’s PCMCIA, which does not stand for “People Can’t Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/12 "2005-02-24T20:09:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > “ **L** ame **A** in’t an **M** P3 **E** ncoder” - actually, it _is_ an MP3 encoder)? It wasn’t, and still (arguably) isn’t. LAME was originally a patch against the ISO demonstration sources, and is now _source code_ for a MP3 encoder. The LAME website doesn’t distribute any binaries, only source code. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/13 "2005-02-24T21:59:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Then there’s the mail reader pine, which stands for Pine Is Not Elm. (Elm was a previous, mail reader) That may have been a motivator for the name (or even the primary motivator), but last time I looked at any documentation for pine, it listed the acronym as “ **P** rogram for **I** nternet **N** ews and **E** -mail”. And one must here mention INTERCAL, which is an acronym for “ **C** omputer **L** anguage with **N** o **P** ronounceable **A** cronym” :D. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/14 "2005-02-24T22:32:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That may have been a motivator for the name (or even the primary motivator), but last time I looked at any documentation for pine, it listed the acronym as “ **P** rogram for **I** nternet **N** ews and **E** -mail”. I stand corrected: [http://www.island-resort.com/pine.htm](http://www.island-resort.com/pine.htm) According to one of the original creators: “The first acronym choice was Pine Is Nearly Elm as that was the case. It has never stood for Pine Is Not Elm as we were happy to have elm as a starting point… Work on acronym creation also continued at the UW (I’m in temporary retirement from thi activity) and Pine now standard for Pine Internet News and E-mail.” Although you’re right, the official homepage appears to prefer “Program for Internet News & Email” ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/15 "2005-02-24T22:40:18Z")
A few of my favorites which haven’t been mentioned:[ul][li]awk - taken from the initials of the last names of the authors (Aho, Weinberger and Kernighan (he of C fame))[/li][li]ping - according to the Jargon File, not Packet INternet Groper, but a conscious reference to the sonar operators’ term for a sonar pulse[/li][li]BLOB - Binary Large OBject (I’m sure that the eponymous movie monster is strictly coincidental)[/li][li]DEADBEEF - proof that the geek sense of humor dates back many years; this was the hex fill value for newly allocated memory in many IBM environments, both OS360 and RS/6000[/li][li]LISP - Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses (not really, but it is descriptive)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/16 "2005-02-25T00:30:12Z")
One of my favorites is mince, a version of emacs that ran on CP/M systems, written by Mark of the Unicorn. Mince stands for “mince is not complete emacs”. Since it ran on systems with only 64K RAM, it had a built-in virtual memory system that allowed it to handle large files. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/17 "2005-02-25T00:40:53Z")
Has anybody used the inviting TIARA (TIARA Is A Recursive Acronym or maybe This Is A Redundant Acronym)? ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-odd-silly-contradictory-acronyms-for-gnu-gpl-projects/291719/18 "2005-02-25T00:42:37Z")
And of course, the grand-daddy of them all, TINARA. Actually it works for xINARA, because the first letter stands for itself. xINARA : **x** INARA **I** s **N** ot **A** **R** ecursive **A** cronym… I like LINARA and TINARA myself, but to each his own. I’m sure XINARA would be a cool project name.