Rebranding Darwin

Sometimes you just have to rebrand. A technique in nuclear magnetic spectroscopy was called Proton-Induced Nuclear Induction Spectroscopy (PENIS). But the nature of the acronym ensured that it never caught on. It was swiftly renamed Cross Polarisation (CP).

Another example was from the 1970s. There is a university called University of California Riverside (UCR). Apparently a group of people from near the campus wanted a closer association. They called themselves Friends of UCR. This had the unfortunate acronym FUCR. (F*k*r)

In 1987 I visited Darwin in Australia. It’s the capital of the Northern Territory. The Territory is huge; about twice the size of Texas. Darwin then was 50 000 people. Today it’s 150 000. Lovely small town. In a large city like Shanghai or Los Angeles, it would just be a suburb. Darwin is surrounded by a huge very underpopulated wet region of swamp and long grass, stretching onwards along the coast. Very tropical, with only 2 seasons, wet and dry.

While in Darwin I strode thru the only university. There were students walking around campus with shirts bearing the logo:

UCNT

University College of the Northern Territory [sic]. Opps! Later in the 90s the college was upgraded to a full university and renamed.

Much better. Took the campus years to do this.