Monday, February 15, 2010
'E' in ESPN doesn't stand for 'Eastern'
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
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Q: I don't remember exactly when ESPN first came on the air, but do remember that it became fairly popular (around Giles County) in the late '60s or early '70s with cable TV. At that time the program would say that ESPN stands for "Eastern Sports Program Network." Haven't heard that for a long time. Do they not use it anymore?
John B. Sheally Jr.
A: Some sports fans jokingly refer to ESPN as the Eastern Sports Programming Network, apparently feeling that the network has a bias toward showing eastern teams.
But that is not and never was the meaning of the letters.
I thought I'd easily go online and find out what ESPN really stands for. But I couldn't seem to dig it out. I soon gave up and asked the PR folks at ESPN.
Care to guess before they spill the secret? Hint: You might need to be a mind reader to figure it out.
ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle explained that back when the idea for a sports network was just getting off the ground, the letters "ESP" seemed pretty cool.
"It was the late '70s and they liked the sound of 'ESP' so [they] found words to match," he wrote. The words they found were Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, but Nagle told me that their sign just said ESP Network.
In 1985, they dumped the words altogether and became just ESPN Inc.
ESPN first reached customers' homes on Sept. 7, 1979. That leaves plenty of room for a regional "eastern sports" broadcaster to have been active in the '60s and '70s as you remember. Perhaps another reader will be able to fill us in on that?
Q: This is in reference to an article in your paper, "Report details 'perverse' activity at jail" in which the reporter uses the word "trusty" instead of "trustee" and "trusties" instead of "trustees."
Judy Hensley, Roanoke
A: Let me tell you a short, but embarrassing story. A young reporter sees the paper's police reporter use the word "trusty."
"What a dope," thinks young reporter. "That hotshot can't even spell 'trustee.' "
The young reporter may have even said this aloud. Possibly with a bit of attitude.
Then comes the crushing blow. The hotshot didn't make a mistake. "Trusty" is its own word. It's a term used in jails. Had the youngster read "The Associated Press Stylebook" more closely, he would have known that "trusty" means "a prison inmate granted special privileges as a trustworthy person."
Yep, that young reporter was me. So, don't feel bad for mixing up these words that are almost spelled alike and almost sound alike, but have quite different meanings.
Grammar Grumblings
Q: What is the generally accepted method for writing the plural of an acronym? For instance, is the plural of CFL correctly written as CFLs, as I did below, or is it CFL's, which I have seen also?
Wayne Wilcox, Roanoke
A: Our Grammar Guru, retired English professor Virgil Cook, thinks it's OK either way, but eventually one will win out.
"Apostrophes are disappearing from many constructions. For example, most people would now write '1990s' instead of '1990's,' which I think is a very sensible practice. So it seems to be with acronyms also. I predict that 'CFLs' will become the accepted convention."
Looking in the AP Stylebook again, we find that newspaper style already dispenses with the apostrophe.
Got a question? Got an answer? Call Tom Angleberger at 777-6476 or send an e-mail to woym@roanoke.com. Don't forget to provide your full name, its proper spelling and your hometown.
