Back many years ago my school, USM, was known in my state as "Southern." We recognized that we would need to change that and go to Southern Miss because no one outside of Mississippi would get the Southern thing. Plus no one could tell who it was when we said it anyway.

That said, I hear you referring to your school as "Western." Do you feel the same way we did, or are you content with staying with Western? An honest question here, since I root for all conference mates.

http://www.hilltopperhaven.com/board/ind...pic=8209.0

I feel that the locals always just say western as a norm to each other , but we always say WKU or Western Kentucky University to outsiders

(11-29-2016 11:27 PM)JBeagle Wrote:  Back many years ago my school, USM, was known in my state as "Southern." We recognized that we would need to change that and go to Southern Miss because no one outside of Mississippi would get the Southern thing. Plus no one could tell who it was when we said it anyway.

That said, I hear you referring to your school as "Western." Do you feel the same way we did, or are you content with staying with Western? An honest question here, since I root for all conference mates.

As long as I've been around, it's been called Western - pretty much throughout the state. The WKU branding is fairly recent (maybe the last decade) and may be an emulation of UAB, TCU, SMU, etc. Since there is no Western Kansas, it's exclusive. I'm actually cool with either, or Western Kentucky as well.
My daughter is a current student and I've noticed her friends refer to it as WKU most of the time. I'm not sure if it really amounts to a hill of beans - no pun

It is in the fight song.

Stand up and cheer, stand up and cheer for dear old Western!

Locals certainly use Western. We tried a rebranding effort to WKU, but ESPN never really cared. They continue to call us West. KY, or Western KY, or W. Kentucky, or anything other than Western Kentucky or WKU.

This is pretty standard.

We refer to MT as Middle.

I feel that pretty much anywhere that there is a "______ Tech" they are often referred to as simply "Tech", often "_____ State" is just referred to as "State".

(11-29-2016 11:27 PM)JBeagle Wrote:  Back many years ago my school, USM, was known in my state as "Southern." We recognized that we would need to change that and go to Southern Miss because no one outside of Mississippi would get the Southern thing. Plus no one could tell who it was when we said it anyway.

That said, I hear you referring to your school as "Western." Do you feel the same way we did, or are you content with staying with Western? An honest question here, since I root for all conference mates.

Our Dear President, who is a perfect incarnation of the appearance that a leader should have, soon resigning (rest in peace, you were loved), has made re-branding the university a major drive. He insists the Student Ambassadors refer to the school as WKU, he changed the student center from DUC (downing university center, affectionately called 'Duck' for decades) to DSU (Downing Student Union) because he believes in the power of linguistics and felt this gave the building more purpose for students (the $50 million dollar renovation didn't hurt either). He is trying to shake 'Western' in favor of 'WKU' I believe because he believes it makes people take the school more seriously and presents a professional image. All of which I agree with coming from a love of linguistics myself. It looks weird to me when I see someone wearing a shirt that says 'Western', but previous posters are right... 'Western' is still the colloquial term for townies (though I somehow make a conscious effort to use WKU) and 'WKU' for everybody else.

(11-29-2016 11:56 PM)freshtop Wrote:  It is in the fight song.

Stand up and cheer, stand up and cheer for dear old Western!

Locals certainly use Western. We tried a rebranding effort to WKU, but ESPN never really cared. They continue to call us West. KY, or Western KY, or W. Kentucky, or anything other than Western Kentucky or WKU.

I don't mind the "W. Kentucky" myself, but yeah WKU would be highly preferable on sports networks.

Kinda like they didn't put up our AP rating when they televised our bowl game in 2015. That tilted me. We earned it... put the number by our name please.

(11-30-2016 12:39 AM)TopsonTop Wrote:  

(11-29-2016 11:27 PM)JBeagle Wrote:  Back many years ago my school, USM, was known in my state as "Southern." We recognized that we would need to change that and go to Southern Miss because no one outside of Mississippi would get the Southern thing. Plus no one could tell who it was when we said it anyway.

That said, I hear you referring to your school as "Western." Do you feel the same way we did, or are you content with staying with Western? An honest question here, since I root for all conference mates.

Our Dear President, who is a perfect incarnation of the appearance that a leader should have, soon resigning (rest in peace, you were loved), has made re-branding the university a major drive. He insists the Student Ambassadors refer to the school as WKU, he changed the student center from DUC (downing university center, affectionately called 'Duck' for decades) to DSU (Downing Student Union) because he believes in the power of linguistics and felt this gave the building more purpose for students (the $50 million dollar renovation didn't hurt either). He is trying to shake 'Western' in favor of 'WKU' I believe because he believes it makes people take the school more seriously and presents a professional image. All of which I agree with coming from a love of linguistics myself. It looks weird to me when I see someone wearing a shirt that says 'Western', but previous posters are right... 'Western' is still the colloquial term for townies (though I somehow make a conscious effort to use WKU) and 'WKU' for everybody else.

Right now it's more generational than townie. I'm 57. People my age call it Western. I have 2 sons. One graduated in 09 and the other graduated in 15. They both call it WKU. They are products of Gary Ransdell's (president) indoctrination. When they first arrive on campus they have basically a week of pep rallies introducing them to all things Western....errr.....WKU. My boys just naturally call it WKU. As others have answered this was an active exercise by the university president and everyone else on campus.

I honestly don't care what it's called whether Western or WKU. I completely understand why they want to do it. I even tried to be a good WKU apparatchik and call it WKU for awhile. It just didn't come natural for me.

I used to call Southern Miss just that but on this board I use USM because it's just easier to type.

(11-30-2016 12:10 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  This is pretty standard.

We refer to MT as Middle.

I feel that pretty much anywhere that there is a "______ Tech" they are often referred to as simply "Tech", often "_____ State" is just referred to as "State".

I can confirm. Anytime I see "Tech" I automatically assume they mean La Tech just because that's what it has meant my entire life. When I read something prior to the La Tech Texas Tech game that was written by Red Raiders I had to remind myself every time I saw "Tech" that they meant Texas, not Louisiana.

Another example. When I was in New Orleans for the New Orleans Bowl last year, someone posted something about Tech and someone replied "a fellow yellow jacket?" Took me a minute, but I realized he was from Georgia Tech and thought that's what was being mentioned.

I fully understand WKU trying to push the WKU name. On a national scale, that seems like a better branding than "Western." Personally, I still say "Western Kentucky" most of the time, as do others I talk to down here. I'll type WKU, but it doesn't quite roll of the tongue the same.

(11-30-2016 12:45 AM)TopsonTop Wrote:  

(11-29-2016 11:56 PM)freshtop Wrote:  It is in the fight song.

Stand up and cheer, stand up and cheer for dear old Western!

Locals certainly use Western. We tried a rebranding effort to WKU, but ESPN never really cared. They continue to call us West. KY, or Western KY, or W. Kentucky, or anything other than Western Kentucky or WKU.

I don't mind the "W. Kentucky" myself, but yeah WKU would be highly preferable on sports networks.

Kinda like they didn't put up our AP rating when they televised our bowl game in 2015. That tilted me. We earned it... put the number by our name please.

That's because ESPN uses the playoff committee rankings. WKU was only ranked in the AP.

When I lived in NC everyone called NC state just "state"

Posted from mobile device. Hopefully it's coherent.

Good discussion. I must admit that if I heard someone refer to a school as Western or Tech I would have no idea what school they were referring to. Same with State or Northern. I live in Florida and that's why I was happy to see USM go withe Southern Miss. And of course USM will work too. I just like it when people from other parts of the country can tell what my school is. So even though I'm 63 I joined the new way and call it Southern Miss now.

Exactly, I also remember when everybody call us Southern or USM but that was just inside the state of Mississippi. The games vs Mississippi State would usually be referred to by us fans from both teams as "Southern vs State". I like the Southern Miss reference...but if I had my choice, I wish we were branded nationally by USM, but not everyone outside of Mississippi, Louisiana, or Alabama would realize who "USM" is...like everybody knows LSU...or UAB...or TCU...or SMU. Every school has their own recognizeable name for their particular school I guess. Just as WKU...with Western...or La Tech...with Tech...or Southern Miss...with Southern, I think that's pretty neat. A question that some of you may know, but both Southern Cal and South Carolina both have USC...but I think South Carolina has to use the "USCe"....I know that's because they both have the same initials, but did Southern Cal win a court battle for the "USC" logo ? Just curious is all..

I say Western here in Lexington and everyone knows who I am talking to...So I am guessing 30 years and older people refer WKU as "Western" which others have said it flows more naturally for me like others...

We were called "Southern" because we were Mississippi Southern before we became a University and changed our name to Southern Miss.

I think it's totally acceptable and cool inside your state and with people familiar with your region. But on a national stage people would just look at you funny and where the "directional" jokes come from.

I call La Tech "Tech" here and around the state. If I go to Dallas I have to make it clear that I'm talking about Louisiana Tech, not Texas Tech.

Branding has changed over the years. When I was a kid my first Tech shirt just said TECH on it. Now they all have La Tech on them.