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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/7MN4WG5JFIFKGUCBTQSLQGUEM5CK263K/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "000901c8f73e$fec44dd0$6401a8c0@Sony2G4",
    "message_id_hash": "7MN4WG5JFIFKGUCBTQSLQGUEM5CK263K",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/7MN4WG5JFIFKGUCBTQSLQGUEM5CK263K/?format=api",
    "sender": {
        "address": "n5gui (a) cox.net",
        "mailman_id": null,
        "emails": null
    },
    "sender_name": "James Whitfield",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb] Re: OSCAR - Acronym for...?",
    "date": "2008-08-05T21:05:30Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [
        "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/6KTSVSAU77JQ2TB4FL72YERZFOZ2I6WC/?format=api"
    ],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "Reading this thread has been entertaining, particularly the discussion about\nits importance.  I am pleased, if also surprised, that there are writers and\neditors that actually care that much about the accuracy of what they write\nand edit.\n\nI have had a moderately long technical career, occasionally punctuated by\nwhat I now view as futile attempts to get co-workers, most of whom were\nsupposedly well educated, to understand the meaning of the term \"acronym\".\nThe difficult, and most frustrating, part is in trying to communicate what\nan acronym is not.  COBOL is an acronym, but IBM and BLT are not.  ( Since\nmost of the time I have tried to point out the distinction, the reaction\nthat I got was \"serious don't care\". )\n\nWith that as a back drop, I would speculate that since the term OSCAR was\ncoined during a rampant epidemic of the alphabet soup of both government and\nindustry, the term was created for its panache and the actual words for\nwhich it would stand were finalized afterward.  The strongest evidence that\nI can bring forth is that it was a common practice at the time.  If anyone\ncan tell the story as it happened, or even some of the unverifiable legends\nof the time, I would enjoy hearing about it.\n\nSputnik certainly proved that amateurs could receive signal from a radio in\na man made satellite.  The really great creative spark was suggesting that\none could be build, not by the military or a government agency...or even an\nindustrial corporation, but by amateurs, for amateur experimentation.\nEventually it had to lead to the need to name it.  Amateur radio equipment\nonboard a satellite.  AREOS.  Nothing to grab attention there.  Satellite\nwith amateur radio -  SWAR.   Nope.  Satellite carrying amateur radio --\nSCAR.  Better, but not a positive message.\n\nHowever the name got to OSCAR, it was and still is a good name.  Even so, I\nam a bit troubled by the thought that the expanded name for the project\nmight not have been selected simply for the contraction to OSCAR.  Suppose\nthat Orbital ( or perhaps Orbiting ) Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio was\nreally the name and OSCAR came later.  What exactly would be the reason to\nuse the combined term \"orbital satellite\".  A quick check of the dictionary\nsuggests to me that in the technical context, satellite is an object that is\nin orbit.  That being the case, why use the term \"orbital satellite\"?  At\nthe time were there \"non-orbital satellites\" that needed to be distinguished\nfrom the amateur radio variety?  The dictionary doesn't help, what with all\nof the different ways that the terms orbital, orbiting, and satellite are\nused, one can concoct a lot of different concepts, none of which I can tie\ninto the basic concept, which in my mind needs not additional\ndiscrimination.\n\nIt is only my opinion, but the term OSCAR has outgrown its roots as an\nacronym.  Consider the word \"radar\".  It has been so ingrained into the\nevery day language of our society, even allowing for the dependence of\nsociety on technology, that it is no longer recognized as an acronym.\nPerhaps there are linguistic scholars that can trace its origins, but in the\nlanguage of today, the term radar has lost its distinction from other words.\n\nSo it is within the language of amateur radio.  An OSCAR is a recognized\nthing.  The term OSCAR, though perhaps it is still capitalized, invokes\ndirect meaning rather than translation into the components that made up its\norigin phrase.  Perhaps it is a fitting tribute to those whose genius and\nsweat built and operated OSCARs that the word has been accepted as a normal\npart of the amateur radio lexicon.\n\nMy thanks to each of you, old timers and newcomers alike.\n\nJames\n n5gui\n\n\n\n\n\n\n",
    "attachments": []
}