12-05-2025
People are only just realising what 'scuba' stands for
For more than 70 years it's been a word closely intertwined with the act of diving underwater.
'Scuba' refers to a portable breathing equipment for free-swimming divers as they explore the ocean's depths.
The word was coined in the early 1950s by a military doctor from New Jersey.
However, people are only just realizing what 'scuba' stands for.
On X (Twitter), one person posted: 'Wow this is the very first time I'm seeing the meaning to scuba.'
Another person said: 'It was originally a technical term used by the military and engineers, but it became so widely used that it evolved into a regular word.'
If you think 'scuba' was originally a brand name, guess again!
So, can you work it out?
Despite the word being coined in the early 1950s, people are still only just realizing what 'scuba' stands for. Pictured, a scuba diver in the late 1960s
Although many people don't know it, the word 'scuba' is an acronym.
An acronym is simply an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of other words, pronounced as a single word.
'Scuba' stands for 'Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus', which is a source of breathing gas used for underwater diving which is carried by the diver.
Originally, the acronym was coined in the 1952 by Major Christian J. Lambertsen, a medical researcher from Westfield, New Jersey.
Major Lambertsen – who served served in the US Army Medical Corps – had patented his breathing apparatus as 'SCUBA'.
Before this he had called it, somewhat less memorably, 'Laru', which was an acronym for Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit'.
As we know, 'SCUBA' became the generic English word for autonomous breathing equipment for underwater diving.
Only later did it start to generally refer to the activity using the equipment.
'Scuba' is an acronym - an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of other words, pronounced as a single word
'SCUBA' became the generic English word for autonomous breathing equipment for underwater diving
Another word that is a surprising acronym is 'laser' (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
Examples of its use in everyday conversation may be – 'I'm going to get my scuba license' or 'My dad's a scuba instructor'.
Initially, it was written out in caps as 'SCUBA' as the rules of grammar dictate, before dropping to lower case, typical of acronyms today.
It's for this reason many people don't realise certain commonly-used words are acronyms – not just 'scuba' but also 'laser', 'spam' and 'gif'.
Other acronyms are 'captcha', 'taser', 'gulag', 'radar' and more modern examples deriving from internet speak including 'lol' and 'fomo'.
As another example, 'Nasa' referring to the US space agency is commonly written out with lower case letters and said as a two-syllable word.
This is despite it being an acronym for 'National Aeronautics and Space Administration'.
Another surprising acronym is 'laser', which stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Curiously, 'scuba' is pronounced with a long 'oo' sound ('scooba') even though its spelling dictates it should have an 'uh' sound ('scubba'). It's thought this deliberate mispronunciation made the word more memorable or pleasurable to the ear.
Only recently did some people learn what Durex – the British brand of condoms and lubricants – actually stands for.
It's a portmanteau – a made-up word coined from a combination of the words of other words (in this case, durable, reliable and excellence).
Online, people have been shocked to learn the truth; one person on Instagram said: 'I thought it was an acronym for DURing sEX'.
Even some experts were unaware, with Helen Ward, a professor of public health at Imperial College London, adding: 'I didn't know that Durex stands for DUrability, Reliability, EXcellence.'
The language map of Britain: Chart reveals the most popular words across the UK - including 'knob' in Welsh, 'cheese' in Wiltshire, and 'freak' in Essex
While the UK is only home to around 69 million people, there are dozens of regional languages and dialects spoken across the British Isles.
From Cornish to Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Welsh, each region has its own interests, tastes, and obsessions.
Now, data published by Charles Kemp, a professor in psychology at the University of Melbourne, reveals the most popular words in each region.
According to his research, Old English has 'hedge' at the top, marking a very long-standing English preoccupation with hedgerows and gardens.
Meanwhile, the Sussex dictionary has more mentions of 'flint' than any other word – perhaps a reference to the important Neolithic flint mines around the county.
And although it may sound like a stereotype, the Scots dictionary has 'oatmeal' as its most-mentioned word, reflecting the highland love for the breakfast dish.
