The abbreviation UTC as an acronym

& (verbiage overflow) ⋅ ⋅ Sun 06 November 2011 ⋅ RSS ⋅ Search ⋅ Subscribe

In "Daylight Saving Time is a huge mess", posted to blog "The Endeavor" on 20111106, John D. Cook writes:

The abbreviation UTC [dpb: the non-Anglocentric successor to "Greenwich Mean Time"] is an odd compromise. The French wanted to use the abbreviation TUC (temps universel coordonné) and the English wanted to use CUT (coordinated universal time). The compromise was UTC, which doesn’t actually abbreviate anything.

Actually, it abbreviates the squabbling between the English and the French over whose language is to be dominant. Perhaps it is a good model for other such cases.

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