Re: City Names and Initials

Paul Blay wrote:
"wataritori" <watari.pg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote ...
I'm curious about a convention I've seen in several
Japanese books (and websites too) when it comes to
referring to city names. Fairly frequently, the name
itself of the city isn't used, but is referred to, e.g., as
Ｎ市 or S市. ...

Any ideas?

How about the /pretext/ of anonymity. Or if you prefer
plausible deniability. Same as in games etc. プレステ (Playstation)
will be changed into something like プレスタ.
Nobody cares if your WacDonalds golden valley is obviously
a McDonalds golden arch (turned upside down) as long as they haven't got
enough reason to go to court.

Another example ... here, you cannot get sued for libel or slander if
you refer to the person you are libeling by their initials instead of
their name. It gets to the point of "XYZ, baggage handler at Flamingo
Internation Airport, son of <insert full name here>, was spotted dealing
drugs the other day in the employee lounge." Not actionable under
Antillean law. Our local gossip column can be treated as a word puzzle
some days.

KWW
.

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