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in reply to Re: PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community
in thread PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community

Regarding "acronyms" which have been mentioned a few times in this and related threads, it's interesting to me that typing "perldoc perl" brings up a doc that states (at the beginning) "perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language" and then later "Perl actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister, but don't tell anyone I said that." This would add credence to the thought that Perl is an acronym. Now acronyms are frequently (traditionally?) written in caps. However,"perldoc -q perl" displays a doc that states "But never write "PERL", because perl isn't really an acronym, apocryphal folklore and post-facto expansions notwithstanding."
So I don't do that, and I noticed from the beginning of my acquaintance with Perl that anyone who wrote "PERL" was immediately corrected. I understand that certain things (like writing "PERL" or leaving the cap off the toothpaste) can really annoy people, and that makes sense. But I've never been really sure why "PERL" is so heuristically incorrect aside from the fact that almost everyone agrees that is the case - which I suppose is good enough reason.
(Hope someone hasn't already said all this...)