Have any of you heard of setrecs? Apparently it is a word used by newspapers that refers to setting the record straight, such as Newsweek recently did. It is an acronym, of sorts. setting the record straight.

Sounds awfully governmentese.

Very interesting, Kalleh. I found only 85 google hits, and that's few enough to go through them individually, remove duplicates and irrelevancies, and find the earliest.

To be continued ...

Follow-up: That's one helluva catch you made, Kalleh! Basically, there are only four examples, all from the world of newspaper publishing.

The earliest is April 1996 (Lee R. Jett), in-house newsletter of San Jose Mercury News.

Jett's article was not copied elsewhere on the web. The term spread a bit on the web when it was used in three later articles in the Miami Herald, and the articles were copied in other websites (mostly of the press):

• Sept. 15, 2002 (Gene Miller)
• Sept. 22, 2002 (Martin Merzer)
• May 23, 2005 (Leonard Pitts)

Wow, thanks, wordnerd, for your efforts. Mine was an article by Leonard Pitts.

Is there a word, does anyone know, for an adapted acronym, as "setrecs" is?