[ih] What does TELNET stand for?

[Michael Grant]

I first encountered telnet in the early 80s, probably while I was at 
UofMD, though I think the ITS machines also had it.  I remember asking 
someone what it meant and it was explained to me that it came from the 
concept of teleportation but instead of 'teleport', it was like 
telenetting but got shortened to just 'telnet'.  A plausible 
explanation; I never gave it further thought until reading this thread 
that this plausible etymology was never so!

Michael Grant