USC

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:27 PM -0400 9/10/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
>I'd call "SC" for 'The University of Southern California' an LA'ism,
>and "USC" perhaps a Westernism.  When I moved from (that) USC to The
>University of Georgia in 1974, I discovered that "USC" now meant
>'The University of South Carolina'--while The University of Southern
>California is known in the South (and elsewhere?--but not in
>California?) as "Southern Cal."
>
I just learned on a TV football broadcast a week or two ago that USC
prefers to be referred to as "USC" or "Southern California" but never
as "Southern Cal".  It is known as "Southern Cal" in many places, but
I seem to recall that "SC" is more frequently heard in California
than "Southern Cal" (by the application of the usual truncation
principles based on what can be taken for granted where, e.g. the
rules for "USC" above, or for "OSU", where the O marks Ohio, Oregon,
or Oklahoma, depending on where you be).

LH

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