MTA (More Trouble Ahead) nicknames

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:38:54 EST, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>I just entered this on my "Big Apple" page. "More Trouble Ahead" is in
>today's New York Post. Does anyone know another other "MTA" (Metropolitan
>Transit Authority) nicknames?
>...
>23 March 2005, New York <i>Post</i>, pg. 32 editorial:
><i>M</i>ore <i>T</i>rouble <i>A</i>head?

Barry notes a few others on his "Big Apple" page
<http://barrypopik.com/article/648/mta-metrocard>:

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(Google Groups)
Odd NYCTA quote from NY Times Tuesday October 6, 1998
... I have seen the trend spread over into supervision now. Kenny NYCTA
Motorman MTA....
Moving Trash Around ....Moving Thugs Around ....More Trouble Ahead
nyc.transit – Oct 30 1998, 2:42 am by KRH1955 – 9 messages – 9 authors
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>From a 1996 thread on the newsgroup misc.transport.urban-transit (the
first three actually refer to the MTA of Los Angeles):

Making Transit Awful
More Trouble Awaits
Many Tardy Arrivals
My! Timetable! Amazed!

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/misc.transport.urban-transit/browse_frm/thread/188a5597ff32eb99/8d5a240f58ada03d

And along the lines of "Moing Thugs Around", the same thread mentions two
(racist) nicknames playing on other public transit initialisms:

MARTA "Metro Atlanta Regional Transit Authority" ->
      "Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta"

NFT "Niagara Frontier Transit" ->
    "Nigger Freight Train"

Those two nicknames also appear in Nicholas Howe's 1989 article "Rewriting
initialisms: folk derivations and linguistic riddles" _Journal of American
Folklore_ 102(404):171-182.  On JSTOR:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8715%28198904%2F06%29102%3A404%3C171%3ARIFDAL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z

Surprisingly, Howe doesn't have any reinterpretations of "MTA".  But he
does have a good selection of automotive nicknames:

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BMW
Big Money Wasted
Break My Windows
Buick Motor Works
Wanted Mercedes-Benz (backwards)

Chevy
Can Hear Every Valve Yell

Dodge
Dear Old Dad Goes Everywhere

Fiat
Fix It Again Tony
Found In A Toilet

Ford
Fix Or Replace Daily
Fucking Old Rebuilt Dodge
Found On Road Dead
Found on Russian Dump
First On Race Day

GM
General Mistakes

GMC
General Mass of Crap
Garage Man's Companion
Great Made Car
Good Mountain Climber

IHC (International Harvester Co.)
In Hock Constantly

MB (Mercedes-Benz)
Mucho Bucks
Mechanic's Bonanza

MOPAR
My Only Problems Are Repairs
My Old Pig Ain't Running

Olds
Old Like Dad's Studebaker

Plymouth
Please Leave Your Money On The Hood

Pontiac
Poor Old Niggers Think It's A Cadillac

REO
Runs Empty Only
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--Ben Zimmer