# I live in the town of M-----. Why not give the name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090 "2005-04-19T17:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/1 "2005-04-19T17:25:27Z")
This has always bothered me. In many novels (and some Winnie the Pooh, if I’m not mistaken) the name of the town or of a character is simply the first letter followed by hyphens. What is the reasoning for this? Was it simply to protect the author from some sort of persecution for writing about a “real” place? Thanks 🙂 simply\_cats ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/2 "2005-04-19T17:53:27Z")
I always thought it was to give the author the ability to convey verisimilitude without having to get details right about the place he was supposedly writing about. Also it allowed the narrator/character to appear discreet and respectful of the privacy and reputations of his acquaintances. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/3 "2005-04-19T18:14:39Z")
Oddly, Stephen King did that same in one of his early novels, “Roadwork”, in which the main character’s home town appears on a government letter as “M----, W----”, as well as a scene in which the character meets a hitchhiker who asks where he’s from, and the character “named his city” for the benefit of the hitchhiker, without _actually_ naming it for the benefit of the reader. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/4 "2005-04-19T18:21:52Z")
It’s an older convention – you don’t see it a lot nowadays. The idea was that you were mentioning a real place or person, but that you didn’t want to mention the name due to privacy concerns. Nowadays, it’s more common just to write around it. ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/5 "2005-04-19T18:41:34Z")
Thanks for your insights! It has always been something that bothers me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/6 "2005-04-19T18:50:03Z")
> [@simply\_cats](#): > > Thanks for your insights! It has always been something that bothers me! > > 😃 Any time **S-----\_----**! 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/7 "2005-04-19T20:45:58Z")
Nineteenth Century authors did this constantly. Victor Hugo spends most of the entire first section of _Les Miserables_ dropping names and locations that consist entirely of an initial and a set of dashes. Bishop M---- of S----sur-la-mere… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/8 "2005-04-19T20:47:49Z")
In one Woody Allen piece, he has a character write in his diary: “Should I marry O\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_? Not if she won’t tell me the rest of the letters in her name.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-town-of-m-why-not-give-the-name/300090/9 "2005-04-20T03:51:31Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Oddly, Stephen King did that same in one of his early novels, “Roadwork”, in which the main character’s home town appears on a government letter as “M----, W----”, as well as a scene in which the character meets a hitchhiker who asks where he’s from, and the character “named his city” for the benefit of the hitchhiker, without _actually_ naming it for the benefit of the reader. Also, in “The Breathing Method” from _Different Seasons_, the year is listed as 197-.