Most annoying college/university nicknames?

[Anonymous]

People have been saying "Bama" a lot around here and it's like nails on a chalkboard for me. I think I remember finding "Cal" mildly annoying once upon a distant time, too, so maybe I'm just not a nickname fan, but I feel like a university's name should have some gravitas, and I'm sorry but "Bama" has absolutely none.

"Ole Miss" bugs me a little less than "Bama," but I have a hard time imagining it pronounced in any voice other than Foghorn Leghorn's.

What other dumb school names am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Did your annoyance with "Bama" start before or after you became aware of Obama?

[Anonymous]

Vandy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your annoyance with "Bama" start before or after you became aware of Obama?

Interesting question. I think recent DCUM threads were the first time I heard of "Bama," so long after Obama. It makes perfect sense that Alabama would have at least one university like every other state, but I don't think I'd ever heard it discussed in any capacity, nickname or no, before the last few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vandy

+1000

[Anonymous]

Sort of different, but I hate demonyms (not sure if that's the right word). There is nothing more cringeworthy than identifying as a "Smithie" or a "Yalie." Even worse is when it's a parent referring to "my Smithie" or "my daughter is a Yalie"...gah.

[Anonymous]

Mizzou

[Anonymous]

My spouse comes from a country where rice is a major part of the diet. When we were exploring options for our kids’ colleges, spouse wasted no time in vetoing Rice University due to its name. Penn was also off the list due to sounding too phallic in spouse’s native language. Bucknell was yet another that generated negative vibes due to its name. I would imagine there are languages in which “Tufts” sounds even stranger than it does to Anglophone ears.

I always wondered how tired Haverford grads must get of explaining that they didn’t go to Harvard, & how Washington U (St. Louis) alumni can stay calm when explaining to forgetful Uncle Cyrus for the sixth time where they went to school.

[Anonymous]

Wazzu

[Anonymous]

I don’t get the whole OU for U of Oklahoma & CU for U of Colorado & KU for U of Kansas thing. I hope there is some fascinating story behind this practice, like they were founded by people whose native language was read right to left.

Whether the University of Utah follows this unusual approach or uses the more traditional sequencing of initials (such as University of Kentucky being called UK) will forever be a mystery. I can only imagine how many bar fights and divorces have resulted from disagreements about this unsolvable issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sort of different, but I hate demonyms (not sure if that's the right word). There is nothing more cringeworthy than identifying as a "Smithie" or a "Yalie." Even worse is when it's a parent referring to "my Smithie" or "my daughter is a Yalie"...gah.

Meanwhile, Texas has it’s Aggies. While mocking them is standard practice, it’s done with affection and underlying respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mizzou

I went to the University of Missouri and always disliked "Mizzou." At least when I was there in the '90s, it was generally just called "MU," and only the super rah-rah let's-go-school-spirit types said Mizzou. But it's only becoming more common. I guess there's more than one MU, so Mizzou fills the function of being a unique name ... but it's still a little cringe to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People have been saying "Bama" a lot around here and it's like nails on a chalkboard for me. I think I remember finding "Cal" mildly annoying once upon a distant time, too, so maybe I'm just not a nickname fan, but I feel like a university's name should have some gravitas, and I'm sorry but "Bama" has absolutely none.

"Ole Miss" bugs me a little less than "Bama," but I have a hard time imagining it pronounced in any voice other than Foghorn Leghorn's.

What other dumb school names am I missing?

I think Bama’s cute.

[Anonymous]

I hate hate hate UChicago -- 90s grad, will always be U of C to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mizzou

I can’t even figure out which school this refers to.