City Names (initialism division)

[Bob Haas]

Don't folks from around the area of San Antonio call it San
Antone?  Just
curious.  Oh, and if West Virginians wanted to initialize
their state, they
might call it "Dub-ya Vee," instead of double-u vee, but
that's just one
southerner's take on it.  Or who knows?  They might watch a
lot of cable
television and call it the Dubba-ya Vee (instead of Dubba-ya
Bee, like that
animated frog).

Amy Speed wrote:

> My theory is that the tongue takes the path of least resistance. "L.A.," for
> example, slides easily over the tongue, whereas "N.H." is not quite so
> slick. After saying "New Haven" and "N.H." to myself aloud, it was easy to
> see that "New Haven" offered the least resistance, especially since the "h"
> sound is easily dropped. The same may be true of "New York," although not to
> the same extent, perhaps. Whether my theory can be applied to all
> abbreviated city names, I don't know. For example, I would think that it
> would be easier to say "S.A." rather than "San Antonio."
>
> I imagine that residents of cities that start with "West" would prefer to
> say "West" rather than "W." In such a case, "West Virginia" is easier to say
> than "double-u vee." Perhaps residents would say "West V?" Perhaps someone
> from a western place would care to expound on that.

--

Bob Haas
Department of English
High Point University
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

                       "Shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"