GENBRIT-L Archives
Archiver > GENBRIT > 1998-02 > 0886770082
From: Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake <>
Subject: Re: OXON?
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 13:01:22 +0000
In article <6bcs6g$7b4$1@news.ox.ac.uk>, Malcolm Austen
<> writes
>
>Well, yes, sort of .. I should perhaps declare that I was not educated
>at the Polytechnic of the Fens and so cannot claim to be an authority.
>(but that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ should be enough to tell you where my
>degree did come from 8-)
>
Those of us fortunate enough not to have spent all our undergraduate
days dreaming about spires can perhaps be a bit more authoritative. :)
>I think that common usage would contract Cambridgeshire to Cambs. I
>guess it would be too easily confused with Canterbury for postal
>usage. The only place I would generally expect to see Cantab in modern
>usage is to, say, distinguish my BA(Oxon) from someone else's
>BA(Cantab) - which does not, of course, come from the University of
>Kent at Canterbury!
>
Cambs is the normal postal abbreviation for the county of
Cambridgeshire. Cantab, the short form of the Latin Cantabrigia meaning
the town of Cambridge, is normally only used in reference to the
University. It is most commonly seen, as you say, in references to
degrees, since graduates are keen to let the world know they are
different.
The two universities have always differed in vital skills, such as rugby
football, but share a common feature. Both are situated in towns where
it is impossible to park your car!
--
Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake, MA (Cantab).
Drake Software web site: http://www.tdrake.demon.co.u
This thread: