Our friend GUEST Know All is just full of urban legends and folk etymologies, isn't (s)he?

Incidentally, any time you see an explanation of a word which makes it an acronym from some interesting story--take it with a grain of salt. No, better, take it with a POUND of salt!

The practice of referring to things by acronyms is only a development of the last ninety or so years, since about World War I, when I assume it grew out of in-group reference to the names of government boards and bureaus.

Dave Oesterreich