# Why is "emcee" a word?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 22, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589 "2015-01-22T16:38:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/1 "2015-01-22T16:38:24Z")
As opposed to MC? (master of ceremonies if you’re wondering)
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/2 "2015-01-22T16:44:46Z")
Why not? :dubious:
Seriously. Someone once wrote it that way, and the convention stuck. It looks cool!
I’m sure there are other examples of letters being turned into words and vice versa. Like “barbecue” and “bar-B-Q.”
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/3 "2015-01-22T16:49:28Z")
For the same reason that “deejay” is a word.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/4 "2015-01-22T18:05:59Z")
Is there a word for this phenomenon?
Anybody got any other examples?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/5 "2015-01-22T18:10:43Z")
See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo.
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/6 "2015-01-22T18:12:46Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Is there a word for this phenomenon?
>
> Anybody got any other examples?
“Okay” for OK. Also, less commonly, “teevee” for TV.
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### Author:  [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/7 "2015-01-22T18:32:04Z")
tee-shirt occasionally for T-shirt.
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/8 "2015-01-22T19:43:23Z")
There’s the en and the em, which are typographic units.
Probably lots of examples in brand names, such as Vee Jay Records.
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### Author:  [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/9 "2015-01-22T20:01:05Z")
“Seabees” for CBs - US Navy’s Construction Battalions.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/10 "2015-01-22T20:02:28Z")
> [@cjepson](#):
>
> There’s the en and the em, which are typographic units.
But those are things distinct from N and M, the letters. You have to have different terms.
Brand names are similarly their own thing.
The rest of the examples here look dumb to my eye, and I scorn them. I certainly don’t see “emcee” overtaking “MC” in actual usage.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/11 "2015-01-22T20:16:51Z")
> [@yearofglad](#):
>
> tee-shirt occasionally for T-shirt.
Or for that matter simply “tee,” which is already a word but now has the meaning of “a t-shirt.”
“Emcee” is just an acronym. We have zillions of those, don’t we? Radar, scuba, laser, Pakistan and taser are all acronyms.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/12 "2015-01-22T20:34:00Z")
Maybe when they got verbed? A DJ _deejays_ a club. An MC _emcees_ a pageant.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/13 "2015-01-22T20:50:45Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> “Emcee” is just an acronym. We have zillions of those, don’t we? Radar, scuba, laser, Pakistan and taser are all acronyms.
“Emcee” is a transcription of an initialism, not a pronounced-word acronym like your examples (leaving aside some quibbles about “Pakistan”). If “MC” were an acronym like the rest, wouldn’t it would be _spelled_ the same–not “emcee”–but pronounced “mick”?
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### Author:  [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/14 "2015-01-22T23:08:28Z")
The company name Esselte stands for Sveriges Litografiska Tryckerier, or SLT for short.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/15 "2015-01-22T23:41:05Z")
> [@Telperion](#):
>
> The company name Esselte stands for Sveriges Litografiska Tryckerier, or SLT for short.
There’s also Arby’s Roast Beef ( **R** affel **B** rothers) and the BeeGees ( **B** rothers **G** ibb)
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/16 "2015-01-22T23:47:42Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#):
>
> The rest of the examples here look dumb to my eye, and I scorn them. I certainly don’t see “emcee” overtaking “MC” in actual usage.
Emcee used to be the standard until the hip-hop era. Before MC Hammer, you’d never see MC in actual use.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/17 "2015-01-22T23:50:33Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Is there a word for this phenomenon?
>
> Anybody got any other examples?
[Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/336/did-some-japanese-soldiers-hold-out-for-years-after-wwii) calls jeep for GP (general purpose) an elision. Maybe that’s the best word for the phenomenon, even though jeep is a false example of it (as Cecil also points out). That’s the essdee!
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/18 "2015-01-23T00:02:46Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Emcee used to be the standard until the hip-hop era. Before MC Hammer, you’d never see MC in actual use.
Before Melle Mel, you mean. All my referents are subsequent. (Suggestion: Don’t ever use MC Hammer to exemplify “the hip-hop era” again.)
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/19 "2015-01-23T03:07:16Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#):
>
> Before Melle Mel, you mean. All my referents are subsequent. (Suggestion: Don’t ever use MC Hammer to exemplify “the hip-hop era” again.)
Melle Mel wasn’t the one to introduce the term to the mainstream.
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-emcee-a-word/710589/20 "2015-01-23T16:34:40Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> There’s also Arby’s Roast Beef ( **R** affel **B** rothers) and the BeeGees ( **B** rothers **G** ibb)
Which in turn reminds me of the [Gee Bee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee_Bee_Model_R).
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