Do you say "LSE" or "the LSE"?

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"The LSE" or "LSE"?

My parents met at (the) LSE in the early 80s and I've always heard them call it "the LSE", but my friends tend to talk about applying to "LSE". The LSE website refers to the university as "LSE", as do the Wikipedia page and most other internet sources – with a couple of Daily Mail articles as notable exceptions – but my issue with "LSE" is that the full title of the university is "The London School of Economics and Political Science", while the full names of UCL and QMUL, say, are simply "University College London" and "Queen Mary University of London", with a distinct absence of the definite article.

Thoughts? I'd be especially keen to hear from LSE students/recent alumni.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

Chlorophile

20

Original post by lamp-y

My parents met at (the) LSE in the early 80s and I've always heard them call it "the LSE", but my friends tend to talk about applying to "LSE". The LSE website refers to the university as "LSE", as do the Wikipedia page and most other internet sources – with a couple of Daily Mail articles as notable exceptions – but my issue with "LSE" is that the full title of the university is "The London School of Economics and Political Science", while the full names of UCL and QMUL, say, are simply "University College London" and "Queen Mary University of London", with a distinct absence of the definite article.

Thoughts? I'd be especially keen to hear from LSE students/recent alumni.

I've never heard anyone call it "The LSE". I don't see why you've got a problem with them getting rid of the "The", it's an abbreviation, that's what abbreviations do. It's the exact same thing for Imperial, its official name is "The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine" but nobody calls it "The ICL" or "The Imperial".

Oh my God . . . I had this conversation with a friend a few days ago. It's just LSE. Please, just LSE.

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Reply 3

lamp-y

OP

9

Original post by Chlorophile

I've never heard anyone call it "The LSE". I don't see why you've got a problem with them getting rid of the "The", it's an abbreviation, that's what abbreviations do. It's the exact same thing for Imperial, its official name is "The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine" but nobody calls it "The ICL" or "The Imperial".
Hmm ok fair enough, funny how an upbringing can have such a powerful effect on me. It's going to be quite hard to change to "LSE"!