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Resident Artists and Theater Companies: Michigan Classical Repertory Theatre Some of our friends and colleagues: Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority Ypsilanti Convention and Visitors Bureau Ann Arbor Area
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Riverside Arts Center, Fall, 2006, Newsletter RACronyms–an initial response Although most of the alphabet soup in our town is just that, a few institutions make it into the category of acronyms like RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging), SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) and SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging). But who can remember what LASER stood for in its beginning stages?* “RAC” is the shortest name used for Ypsilanti’s Riverside Arts Center. Some call it “The Arts Center,” some just say “ Riverside,” but most locals call this place “The RAC” and that’s good for the image of the arts in our community. Initials must be pronounceable as a word in order to claim the title of “acronymn.” The word must be seen as an image of the organization in order to be in common usage. In a recent argument over the Worldwide Web, a correspondent says, “You can call an abbreviation an acronym only if it is pronounced as a word (which is the main definition found everywhere). You don’t even have to take only the first letter of each word. “Radar” is an acronym too. The only condition is to be an abbreviation pronounced like a word.” “If you pronounce “LOL” [Lol], as I do,” says the correspondent, “then it’s an acronym. But something like BBC isn’t, because each letter is pronounced separately.” Right next door, we have the DTE building, but it’s not an acronym. In fact, to most Ypsi Gypsies, it’s still “The Edison Building” and not “The Deet.” So much for modernizing the language. EMU ( Eastern Michigan University) could be an acronym, but avoids adopting the ostrich-like bird as a mascot. And it may be interesting to note that Ann Arbor’s NEW Center (Nonprofit Enterprise at Work) is no longer known as the Lansky Junk Yard. The most common spoken acronym in the area is one that is not appreciated by its employees. Folks at the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority (YCUA) rankle at its shorted acronymic version: “Yucca” sounds so yucky, and that’s what can happen with such shortenings. Ypsilanti enjoyed the YAK (Ypsilanti Arts Council) years ago, but now it may be time for some YES, YESSIR and YOUBETCHA organizations to be part of the upbeat local lexicon. Fill in the rest on your own and get some t-shirts printed. *Laser = Light Amplification Stimulates Emissions of Radiation SIDEBAR:
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