FW: UC whatever

[Frank Abate]

More on this thread, from my experience:

In Ohio, Ohio State Univ is "Ohio State" or "OSU", though there are
sweatshirts and such for OSU that do or once did just say "Ohio" (one
famously worn by Jesse Owens).

Ohio Univ is called "OU".  I have never heard it called simply "Ohio", but
maybe alums and locals do?

In Michigan, the Univ of M is called "Michigan".  Michigan State Univ is
called "Michigan State" or "MSU".  Please, Michigan alums, chime in on
whether it's "U of M" or "UM" to the locals.

In Massachusetts, for Univ of Mass., it's "U Mass", with the "Mass" sounding
just like the thing that Roman Catholics do.  Often, the intonation is such
that the stress is stronger on the "U", and the combination becomes a single
compound, as if it was a single word (i.e., "YOU-mass").

In Amherst, Mass. (home of Univ of Mass, Amherst College, and Hampshire
College), the name of the town and the college are pronounced locally with
the "h" silent, and with the slightest of glottal stops in its place.
That's the local pron shibboleth.  Another shibboleth of the area (W Mass.)
is "Holyoke", as in the name of the mountain, the college named for the
mountain (which is in South Hadley, Mass.), and the city nearby, named for
the mountain, but sans "Mt."  The locals say the name as 2 syllables, with
strong stress on the first and lighter on the second.  It sounds something
like "WHOLE yolk".  For some speakers, the medial slips away, and it sounds
more like "HO-yoke".

Enough for now, but I think there is a reference book here.

Frank Abate

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of RonButters at AOL.COM
Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 9:28 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: UC whatever


In a message dated 8/9/2002 6:15:47 PM, c64 at CATS.UCSC.EDU writes:

<< University of California at Berkeley is called Cal - certainly
locally.  University of California at Los Angeles is UCLA.  The
others are mostly UC whatever, i.e., UC Davis, UC Irvine, etc.

Rima

I attend school at UC Santa Cruz, UCSC (with a heavily sibilant s as
most pronounce it, U C esss C) or "Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp"
-Tony >>

The University of Iowa is called "Iowa" and Iowa State University is called
"Iowa State." In Iowa, Purdue University is known as "P.U.," and so is the
University of Minnesota, against whom their football team plays a game every
year and the winner gets a statue of a pig. Around North Carolina, Duke
Univeristy is called "Duke." The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
is called "Carolina" in North Carolina. The University of South Carolina is
called "Carolina" in South Carolina. This sometimes causes confusion among
people who don't know their Cocks from their Tar Heels. Less well-known I'm
sure: where I grew up, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Coe College was called "Coe."
The state university in Bamberg, Germany, is called "Universität Bamberg."
The <ä> is pronunced like the <e> in English BET. I could go on and on, but
I'll stop there for now.