Stand-by Joined: 5/16/03
I know there's been discussion in the past on this board about the obnoxious, lazy and idiotic use of initials for shortening play titles, but I'm bringing it up again...because it's such a lazy, obnoxious and idiotic habit. I came across SITPWG on the thread about Sondheim at Norman Conquests, and even with Sondheim as a subject I didn't realize what it meant. Then I saw SITPWG in a subject, but had to read most of the messages before I figured it out. How much of a freakin' rush are you in that typing Sunday in the Park takes too much time? Just use a shorter version in words. And for heaven's sakes if it's a two-word title, just type the whole damn thing. Yes, I mean you, all you ridiculous BE typers!!!!
P.S. Should we have been calling it LM all these years instead of Les Miz?
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/8/08
You didn't even say the title word FrontRow!
...who says it's lazy, obnoxious and idiotic?
It's pretty simple to figure out.
I don't disagree, at least on the BE/Billy Elliot front, but could you really not figure out what SITPWG was? I can't imagine a worse example for you to use to illustrate your point.
Believe it or not, a lot of Les Miserables groupies call it "LM," simply because "Les Mis" sounds tourist-y... or something. I don't know. I still say Les Mis, but then again, I'm very tourist-y.
Just because you posted this, I'm abbreviating everything from now on.

I don't quite understand the backlash against FrontRow. I feel like abbreviating the names of shows can be very alienating-- especially if it's a fairly obscure show. Someone might read a thread about "PO," or Pacific Overtures, thinking it was about Phantom of the Opera.
Stand-by Joined: 5/16/03
No I couldn't figure it out (right away) because for 25 yrs I've heard this show referred to as Sunday in the Park. A lot more than it's been called by its full name...you see, it already has a short-version title (like Les Miz). Oh, and I saw the revival last year. Initials are so generic. Plus this isn't Twitter or texting where you're on a tiny keypad. I don't think a single show currently on Bway has more than 25 characters in the title, and even the longest ones are easily shortened by words, like Joe Turner. I just think it's a stupid way to do things. But even if you think I'm the stupid one for not figuring it out immediately, why invite possible confusion. Abbreviating titles by cutting words means everyone will instantly know what show you mean.
The backlash could have something to do with the rather obnoxious way he posed his question.
I can't decide which was my favorite play on Broadway ever:
ODPDMHYITCAIFSB?*
or
TPAAOJ-PMAPBYTIOFAOCUTDOFMdS?**
*Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad
**The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade
I am *****100%***** with FrontRow on this one!
It is done in innocence, and not always with ignorance, but using initials for everything is part of the DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA!
OMG, you guys! Like, wtf! I'm rofl!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Idiocy.
If a title is long, like "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You," the way that is truly proper, in casual writing and discussion, is to simply shorten it - "Sister Mary Ignatius..." - so that there is no confusion as to what is being dicussed.
Also, BE for "Billy Elliot?" Come, now. It's not that hard to type.
Feb. 28 - Looped, Feb. 28 - Next to Normal, March 4 - Hair, March 11 - A Little Night Music, March 24 - Time Stands Still, April 6 - La Cage Aux Folles, April 10 - Anyone Can Whistle (City Center), April 10 - Looped, May 9 - Enron, May 15 - A Little Night Music, May 15 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Little Night Music, June 20 - A Little Night Music, June 23 - Red, June 23 - Sondheim on Sondheim, July 13 - A Little Night Music, July 18 - The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center)
I feel for FrontRow. I dunno how many times I've sat exasperated, staring at my computer screen trying to figure out what the hell YAGMCB and BATB meant.
I remember Seth Rudetsky commenting on this once on Sirius. I really wish the norm was back to using the main words of a show instead of abbreviating the whole title.
I mean c'mon...can't ya just say Charlie Brown?
LOL
Its a message board, not a college thesis.
Lighten up.
I don't disagree with FrontRow, though I do agree that some acronyms as abbreviations are worse than others. SITPWG when coupled with a Sondheim reference isn't all that difficult to figure out, but something like BE or, gosh, LM is rather idiotic unless you do the proper journalistic acronym usage by spelling the title out during the first reference.
Ha, JG2. Everytime I get into a discussion like this now, I start imagining it acted out like Jerby's message board videos...
JG2, it may not be a college thesis, but since acronyms like 'LCAF' might not be readily understood, they hamper and cloud communication. It makes communicating difficult. There's no excuse for that, save for obvious references (like saying Sondheim's SITPWG or Herman's LCAF), with a whole keyboard right in front of you.
Feb. 28 - Looped, Feb. 28 - Next to Normal, March 4 - Hair, March 11 - A Little Night Music, March 24 - Time Stands Still, April 6 - La Cage Aux Folles, April 10 - Anyone Can Whistle (City Center), April 10 - Looped, May 9 - Enron, May 15 - A Little Night Music, May 15 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Little Night Music, June 20 - A Little Night Music, June 23 - Red, June 23 - Sondheim on Sondheim, July 13 - A Little Night Music, July 18 - The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center)
eh
PLEASE stop calling here JG2.
Her name is Jersey Girl2.
^ Again, context, context.
Feb. 28 - Looped, Feb. 28 - Next to Normal, March 4 - Hair, March 11 - A Little Night Music, March 24 - Time Stands Still, April 6 - La Cage Aux Folles, April 10 - Anyone Can Whistle (City Center), April 10 - Looped, May 9 - Enron, May 15 - A Little Night Music, May 15 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Little Night Music, June 20 - A Little Night Music, June 23 - Red, June 23 - Sondheim on Sondheim, July 13 - A Little Night Music, July 18 - The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center)
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/07
OH God!!!!!!!! do some research figure out. you don't have to be hurt that it took you so long to figure it out it took me for ever to find out TCP meant and I didn't complain.
Updated On: 5/17/09 at 09:29 PM
Swing Joined: 5/17/09
Why should it take you forever to figure out what the post you're reading is referring to. I agree the acronyms are dumb. It takes a couple of seconds more at most to type the whole title or a shorter version of it
SITPWG is really annoying. I cringe when I see it. LM I don't get though. I always though LM was Little Mermaid not Les Misérables.
Always? Even before it opened?
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