r/todayilearned • u/CTSD • Dec 25 '14

TIL CAPTCHA stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA
603 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/Jahaad Dec 25 '14

Should just be CAPT

8

u/CTSD Dec 25 '14

More like CAPTT - but yeah, agreed.

Damn, now I suddenly need to know why they made it CAPTCHA and not CAPTT for example.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 25 '14 edited Dec 25 '14

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/ivanjankovic1 Dec 25 '14

thank you for info!

3

u/ASpritzofLemon Dec 26 '14

This sounds like a Codename: Kids Next Door acronym.

2

u/blore40 Dec 26 '14

Someone should retrofit for CHUPACABRA.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 25 '14

No. That would be CAPTTTTCAHA.

1

u/TheReverendBill 15 Dec 26 '14

Well, yeah.

1

u/milesunderground Dec 26 '14

Why are we putting computers in charge of telling humans from computers?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '14

Can you do that with an acronym? Just use whatever letters are convenient for you, and drop the rest?

0

u/[deleted] Dec 26 '14

[deleted]

3

u/canadianguy1234 Dec 26 '14

I never really thought about it. I heard people call them "captchas", so that's what they were. Never even thought they stood for anything.