When did dope become an acronym?

[gunsnjeeps]

So we've been doping wind and doping sights for as long as I have been shooting.

Was it the Marines or the Army that decided that DOPE was an acronym sometime around 2000 ish?

 

[jetjock07]

CIA in 1980’s and Pablo Escobar

 

[canezach]

It was called DOPE when i was in the Army back in the early 90s

 

[Rio Precision Gunworks]

There's no unanimous agreement that DOPE actually stood for data on previous engagement when it was first coined.

So, literally no one knows.

 

[Alan Warner]

There's no unanimous agreement that DOPE actually stood for data on previous engagement when it was first coined.

So, literally no one knows.

I remember going to bench rest Matches in the late 50's, early 60's in Western upstate NY with my dad as a kid and hearing the term then.

 

[pmclaine]

Maybe it's one of the few words that rather coming from the military to be a common term in the broader population it was something in the vernacular and the military adopted it but had to militarize it into an acronym.

 

[hlee]

The use of the word “dope” to mean “information” traces back to the 19th century. It is most reasonable to suggest that shooters were using “dope” in this sense long before the military created an acronym.

 

[RTH1800]

It was in common use long ago. Read it in range reports from the 1940's. Might be older than that.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

So data on previous engagement sounds older than the 90's possibly 40's. Guess the story I heard about making up an acronym so they could keep the word dope was bull.

 

[DocUSMCRetired]

A lot of this stuff dates back well over 100 years. The first use of how we think of wind meters pre-dates WW1. In WW1 they would scavenge the air speed indicators off downed planes and use them to measure wind for shooting. Dope in the firearms/explosives world can be traced back to before 1880s. When it was used to describe the material used to hold lubricant or the absorbent material in high explosives. Now words evolve over time so you can trace the use back and forth and make adjustments from there. But this should give you an idea that you need to go back more than 100 years.

 

[DubfromGA]

Cannons ?

 

[wvfarrier]

We used in it '92 (ARMY)

 

[DocUSMCRetired]

Cannons ?

Everything was a "canon" if you go back far enough. Just a little canon.

 

[Jack_L]

DOPE is one of my least-favorite backronyms. Like pogue/POG.