[ahazred8ta]

It's 'cha' in northern Mandarin, but 'tê' (茶) in southern Hokkien, so it depended on which trading port you bought from.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tea#/media/File%3ANames_for_t...

Also, 'oo long' is black dragon.

[triceratops]

I'm aware tea has different names in different languages. I believe the rule is "cha if by land, tea if by water" (or maybe the other way around). That's not what I'm talking about.

Almost every purported etymology of a well-established word being an acronym of an even older phrase is an urban legend. Another example: "fuck" being an acronym for "fornication under consent of the king". It's baloney.

I'm not talking about modern words like "scuba" or "laser" obviously.

[IAmBroom]

> That's not what I'm talking about.

That was indeed part of what you were talking about.

I agree that most folk etymologies involving acronyms are wrong, but don't move your goalposts.