Guy Ritchie's The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which appears this weekend in all its thrilling spy story glory, might leave the more word-curious among us wondering: What exactly is U.N.C.L.E.? And does the acronym have any relationship to uncle the word?

When the original 1960s series was first released, its camp elements provided a comic foil to the all-too-real Cold War spy dramas unfolding at the time, John le Carré-style. Wrapped up in U.N.C.L.E.'s clinical-sounding acronym, the presence of uncle might have suggested a comfortingly avuncular authority figure, one who could be trusted to find a commonsense solution to the Cold War arms race and its seemingly inevitable, no matter how M.A.D., outcome. (Yes, that's M.A.D. as in Mutual Assured Destruction.) Or did U.N.C.L.E. on some level suggest that we might only need "cry uncle" for the Cold War stress to go away?

One may speculate. The acronym, which turns out to have its own Wikipedia page, stands for "United Network Command for Law and Enforcement," a name that was featured in the closing credits of the original television series. But according to The Cloak and Swagger Affair: The Untold History, a documentary created for the release of U.N.C.L.E.'s DVD compilation, the show's creators did not originally intend to reveal the acronym's expanded form.

The producers of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. originally intended to leave the meaning of the U.N.C.L.E. acronym a mystery… [but] after a protest from the United Nations, which did not want to be connected to a fictional organization (such as, for example, "United Nations Criminal Law Enforcement"), the writers came up with a meaning that also became part of the series' trademark closing credit, thanking the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement for its cooperation with the producers of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Which makes U.N.C.L.E. not so much a mock-acronym (mockronym?) as backronym, a form of acronym where the shortened version precedes the expanded one, used most often these days in the catchy branding of legislation. Surely, you're familiar with the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act? You might more easily recognize it as the USA PATRIOT Act. 

Vocabulary.com lexicographer Ben Zimmer explains the backronym concept and gives a list of some fine examples of the form in "Backronym of the Week: 'Ex-PATRIOT Act'," writing:

The success of the USA PATRIOT Act truly raised the bar, leading to something of a backronym boom on Capitol Hill. As The Hill reported in 2005, coming up with a title like the Service Act for Care and Relief Initiatives for Forces Injured in Combat Engagements (SACRIFICE) Act can involve a great deal of work — hours or even days of brainstorming by staffers. But a catchy name can be rewarded politically, and the lack of one can be a detriment. Just ask President Obama, who ended up embracing the once-pejorative label "Obamacare" when the legislation's real name, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, never stuck. "PPACA," even if you pronounce it to rhyme with "alpaca," just doesn't trip off the tongue. (See my Boston Globe column for more on how "Obamacare" is being reclaimed by the president and his supporters.)

Which makes you wonder if today's government man, rather than traveling the world to defuse international disaster in a top secret capacity, is rather buzzing on Starbucks, locked in a room with colleagues, fashioning expanded acronyms to fit with common, brand-friendly words. 

Want more words that tap into the ironic, post-Soviet vibe? Check out 28 words from The Vocabulary of Soviet-Era Nostalgia & Cold War Spy Words.