How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Joined: 12/31/69
#1How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 10:28pmSITPWG is a long propositional phrase so I guess it needs an abbreviation. YF for Young Frankenstein seems silly. I just saw someone refer to the possibility of a DD BRoadway run- I assume Dirty Dancing? That's only 12 letters- do you really need to reduce it to 2? What about Gypsy? Could we just call it G? What about Cats?
#2re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 10:31pmAnd, when we start abbreviating shows down to merely one letter, what will happen when a letter is already claimed? I mean, Cats and Company can't both be called "C." We will have mass confusion!
#2re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 10:34pm
M!
(george m!)
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#3re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 10:34pmBut why not G?
#4re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 11:07pmI kinda like "O!" for Oklahoma, but that's about it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#5re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 11:13pmWhy do people say ITW but then say "Forum" instead of AFTHOTWTTF?
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#6re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/24/09 at 11:53pmIf I remember correctly, Joe, YOU were the one who insisted on calling Da, "d". Not even the word "Dee" just the SOUND "d".
PEACE.
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#7re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 12:14amI can't stand using BE.
#8re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 12:45amWTF. BE? LOL!
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
#9re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 12:49amThat one drives me crazy, because it's actually also a word.
#10re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 1:01amWhat should I see next week, WSS, BE or H?
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#11re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 1:40amBE! Aggressive! BE! BE! Aggressive!
"Why, I make more money than... than... than Calvin Coolidge! PUT TOGETHER!"
~Lina Lamont
My name wasn't, isn't, and will never be Scott.
~Lina Lamont
My name wasn't, isn't, and will never be Scott.
#12re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 6:16am'FORUM' is far too long. 4UM. That's better.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
#13re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 7:21amWhy the "U" when "4M" will do?
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#14re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 8:31amWhy do I find a "propositional phrase" to be so titillating?
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#15re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 8:42am
I guess when a title is stupidly long, you reduce it to something easy to reproduce countless times in everyday conversation. Last time Forum had a major Broadway production, the internet was not used in the way it is today. Back then, not everyone had the internet, and not everything was reduced down to acronyms. So the sensible way of abbreviating it stuck. Whereas Sunday has had a major production since the internet became ridiculously commonplace, since acronyms became the conversational norm, so it made perfect sense to abbreviate it down to SITPWG.
In answer to the question posed by the thread title, one word titles don't tend to be abbreviated, but two and up is apparently fair game. Although foolish, as LM could mean Les Miserables (itself a popular pre-internet show with pronouncable abbreviation) or Little Mermaid (although TLM is a bit more common for that). Ideally, it'd be kept for titles with five words or more, but people are apparently incredibly lazy. 
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#16re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 11:33amIsn't Steve's license plate 4M?
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#17re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 4:15pmNo, it's 'IM M4M'
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#18re: How short does a title need to be for it to NOT be reduced to initials?
Posted: 5/25/09 at 4:22pm
Hair never seems to be reduced. So perhaps four letters is short enough and everything else is fair game. We do it for organizations all the time....and have forever -- both spoken and in print.
I don't mind it if the OP has the full title or whomever first MENTIONS the show...so that all of us reading are sure to know the reference.
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