Do We Want to Stop Shortening Santa Monica as “SaMo”?
By Victor - Wednesday February 03rd 2010 |
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Anyone know how long has “SaMo” been around as a short handle for Santa Monica? Is it a development within, say, the last 10 years or going back 100 years? I’m just noticing it more and more these days, mostly online.
I’ll spare you a half-baked rant on the destruction of language, yada yada. I’m no anthropological linguist.
I just think at the most basic level, we can all agree “SaMo” looks dumb in print and sounds even dumber when spoken aloud. (Has anyone ever said “SaMo” aloud referring to Santa Monica?)
If it’s about conserving time and space, then why not just “SM”?
And this is not a case where an abbreviation combines a few words to create a name for a region, such as SoMa in San Francisco or TriBeCa in NYC.
I believe we can end it right here, right now–if we all work together. It has to start somewhere.
Just say no to “SaMo”.
Thank you for your consideration.
i’ve seen SM or SanMo but not SaMo…
Those of us who are actually from Santa Monica never call it this; in fact, I have never heard it called this in my entire lifetime living there. However, “Samo” is definitely the name that everyone uses for Santa Monica High School.
I think you nailed it, Amanda: Santa Monica H.S. may well be the origin. (Despite the odd business name ["Samo Wheel & Brake"]) Maybe these kids are going forth and spreading their slang online. This is probably another one of those cases where I mistake Online usage and behavior as some accurate reflection of the Real World.
The cool kids say “SM.”
- A Cool Kid
My bad cousin went to Samo in the late 80s. So I can assure you it’s been used to refer to the high school since then. We private school kids also called it drug dealer training school.
Ugh, SaMo is so ghetto. I rarely come down from the lush curvy hills of PaPa and tread upon the vast flatland beneath my feet, but if I do, I go straight to Montana Ave.
my high school played samo a couple of times a year and i think the cheerleaders used it in their cheers. always thought it was cool because of jean-michel basquiat’s tag name.
Don’t you mean “MoAv,” ryan? Poser!!!
Only use is for referring to SaMo High. Been called that for at least 30 years by locals.