2024-05-05

Abbreviative Oddity

In this post the author reveals where he currently lives… Nottingham! In a subsequent post, maybe I’ll discuss what it’s like living here (yet another random adding his opinions on a topic exhausted of discussion).

The letters QMC are seen everywhere in Nottingham - on trams, buses, maps, local government press releases, local resident Facebook group posts, you get the idea.

QMC stands for Queen’s Medical Centre, on of the major inpatient hospitals in the city. So I says to myself, says I, Oliver, where did you first see the de-abbreviation? I think, possibly, also on the tram map.

Hypothetically, if you were a first-timer to the city, had a minor injury (bad luck) and wanted to get it looked at, I presume the conversation with a taxi driver would unfold as follows:

• Where to, mate?

• Hospital, please.

• QMC?

• Come again?

But then, I suppose, not that big of a deal. There would be a bit of awkwardness in the driver explaining what the QMC was as you were getting in.

Other cities and towns probably use “Hospital” on all their signage and in common parlance, with most people not needing/caring to know its full name, while QMC is the Nottingham shorthand - nobody would say, “She’s the director of the hospital”, (with the speaker referring to a major one in the local area). You would always say, “She’s the director of (the) QMC”. Never have I ever heard anyone de-abbreviate it.

Is my life so mundane that I think this is the threshold for a blog post? Find out next week, on oliverobscure.xyz.