POTUS, FLOTUS, and SCOTUS

If you spend any time on Twitter, you may have heard some funny words that all look the same: POTUS, FLOTUS, and SCOTUS.

What do these strange words mean? Well, they are all acronyms. Acronyms are abbreviations, in which each of the letters represents a word. The -OTUS in these three words stands for of the United States.

POTUS

POTUS means president of the United States. This abbreviation originated in telegrams, to save time. This is the most common -OTUS acronym. POTUS is pronounced /ˈpōdəs/. The abbreviation is even used as the president’s official Twitter handle: @POTUS.

Sometimes we will use VPOTUS, meaning Vice President of the United States, in writing. This is somewhat rare, though, because it is difficult to pronounce in English.

SCOTUS

SCOTUS is Supreme Court of the United States (the most important court in the US). SCOTUS is pronounced /ˈskōdəs/.

FLOTUS and SLOTUS

When the president has a wife, she is referred to as the First Lady. FLOTUS stands for first lady of the United States. FLOTUS is pronounced /ˈflōdəs/.

President Joe Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is a professor of English. This has earned her the fun nickname Professor FLOTUS.

Although the term is much less common, the vice president’s wife is sometimes called the second lady, so the acronym SLOTUS can be used for second lady of the United States.

FGOTUS and SGOTUS

For many years the president and vice president were heterosexual men, so our terms are very heteronormative. Today, we have a female vice president and have had at least one serious presidential contenders who is a gay man. This means that we may be seeing some new -OTUS terms arising!

Gentleman is the typical counterpart to lady in English, so the terms

FGOTUS, meaning first gentleman of the United States, will be used for the president’s husband. SGOTUS, meaning second gentleman of the United States, can be used for the vice president’s husband.

History of POTUS and SCOTUS

English has many acronyms like this. Many of them began in the military. SCOTUS and POTUS were first used in the late 19th century, in telegrams. FLOTUS didn't come into the language until almost a hundred years later. VPOTUS has been used here and there to refer to the vice president, but because it isn't exactly easy to pronounce, it hasn't caught on.

SCROTUS

As you may know, Donald Trump was a very unpopular POTUS, and this has led to many jokes about him. In 2017, a Twitter user came up with a new -OTUS word for Trump: SCROTUS. This joke works for two reasons: first, it stands for so-called ruler of the United States, and Trump really doesn't like when people suggest that he is an illegitimate president. But the much funnier part of this joke is that it sounds like the word scrotum. You can click here to find out what that one means; this is a family website!