http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=881550


in reply to Re^3: iphone apps using PERL
in thread iphone apps using PERL

Considering that the manual page of perl 1 had the "Practical Extraction and Report Language" mentioning, calling it a post-facto expansion is stretching the meaning of "post-facto".

But let's assume newbies actually read the official Perl documentation. What's the first thing one reads? Right. The "DESCRIPTION" section of the main manual page. (You can't get more official than man perl, can you?) And what is the first sentence of the DESCRIPTION section of "man perl"? 

DESCRIPTION
       Perl officially stands for Practical Extraction and Report Lang
+uage,
       except when it doesn't.

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It doesn't say when it doesn't stand for Practical Extraction and Report Language. It does say, later on in the same manual page, at the end of the BUGS section: 
       Perl actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister
+, but
       don't tell anyone I said that.

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(The I is Larry Wall, according to git-blame). Really, with the main manual page suggesting twice that Perl is an acronym, are you surprised that meme doesn't die? It's official Perl documentation; the first quote was last modified less than a year ago, says what Perl officially stands for; the second quote was made by Larry himself.

And you scold them for not ignoring this, and for not yielding to the perlfaq?

If you want people to not think Perl is an acronym, start lobbying at p5p to get pod/perl.pod changed.

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom