Perl Etymology, a Recondite List

Recently there was a discussion in the Monastery about the confusion between 'Perl' and 'PERL' and how we could enlighten the rest of the world. This led me to contemplate the meaning of the Acronym Perl....

There are the two traditional expansions

Pathologically Eclectic Rubish Lister
Practical Extraction and Report Language
[download]

But there are also:

Pink Elephants Reel Liquorishly
Papal Encyclicals Read Liturgically
Peter Eats Red Licorice
Pretty Extreme Racing Line
Purple Eggplant, Rather Large
Polka-dotted Emus, Running Loose
Perfume Enhances Romantic Liasons
[download]

The mind boggles. (And a boggled mind is not good for much)

----
I Go Back to Sleep, Now.

OGB

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Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by tantarbobus (Hermit) on Oct 08, 2004 at 19:27 UTC
The Full list ;) `#!/usr/local/bin/perl -lw open(PERL, "/usr/share/dict/words"); while (<PERL>) { chomp; /^([perl])/i or next; push @{lc($1)}, $_; } perl([], split //, "perl"); sub perl { my $perl = shift; my $letter = shift; for (@$letter) { perl([@$perl, $_], @_); } print join " ", @$perl; }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Oct 08, 2004 at 19:55 UTC
perl emacs ruby lisp!	[reply]
Re^3: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by jdporter (Paladin) on Oct 08, 2004 at 20:00 UTC
`ps \| egrep root \| less` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by ursus (Acolyte) on Aug 23, 2007 at 22:33 UTC
python emacs ruby lisp?	[reply]
Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by Theo (Priest) on Oct 08, 2004 at 17:07 UTC
`Programmers Enter Riding Llamas` [download] -Theo- (so many nodes and so little time ... )	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by revdiablo (Prior) on Oct 08, 2004 at 17:09 UTC
There are the two traditional expansions It's worth noting that these are ~~retronyms~~ backronyms. That is, they were coined after Perl was already named. I'm sure you already knew that, but some readers of this thread might not.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by jdporter (Paladin) on Oct 08, 2004 at 19:57 UTC
The term I've heard for this is backronym.	[reply]
Re^3: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by revdiablo (Prior) on Oct 08, 2004 at 22:45 UTC
Ah, yes. It seems retronym is a word, but the wrong one. From dictionary.com: retronym, n. A word or phrase created because an existing term that was once used alone needs to be distinguished from a term referring to a new development Backronym is indeed the correct word here.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Feb 28, 2006 at 21:43 UTC
Note that Larry explains that “Perl” was intentionally meant to generate backronyms. Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply]
•Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by merlyn (Sage) on Oct 09, 2004 at 08:43 UTC
Perl Enables Recursive Linguistics. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by apotheon (Deacon) on Oct 29, 2004 at 09:17 UTC
That's an example of Particularly Excellent Renaming Largesse. Pragmatic Electronic Refactored Linguistics - apotheon CopyWrite Chad Perrin	[reply]
Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by JediWizard (Deacon) on Oct 08, 2004 at 19:15 UTC
perhaps elvis requires legwarmers? May the Force be with you	[reply]
Re^2: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by Theo (Priest) on Oct 10, 2004 at 00:58 UTC
And may the Farce be with you! -Theo- (so many nodes and so little time ... )	[reply]
Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Oct 08, 2004 at 17:37 UTC
"A++++++++ great seller would buy again" on the llama bit. It rocks. porpoises entertain red lobsters? see, I'm bad at this. penguins envy running lemmings? nope, not good either. puppies eat random legos! YES! victory.	[reply]
Re: Perl Etymology, a Recondite List by zentara (Archbishop) on Oct 09, 2004 at 14:51 UTC
Portable Excellent Real Language I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh	[reply]


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