Needed: A Catchy Name For The Train

22 April 2003 - 4:00am

Phoenix's Valley Metro Rail, in search of catchy name for its light-rail system to last the ages, is taking suggestions from the public.

"Boston has its T, Chicago its El. San Francisco, BART... Comes now the upstart Phoenix area, seeking a catchy name for its light rail system to last the ages... Valley Metro has two linguistic challenges. The first is to insert a handy new word into the permanent vocabulary of the city through somewhat less-than-organic means, a trick that has had mixed results in Arizona. The second is to define the train before the vox populi can define it in potentially unflattering terms."

Source: The Arizona Republic, April 21, 2003
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Its very unsuitability for an urban center justifies its current usage as a suburban or ex-urban pattern.